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THE 



LIFE AND SPEECHES 



OF 



HENRY CLAY. 



VOLUME 1 , 



Qr hit. . r 'is's 



i a/am, J* 



NEW- YORK: 

GREELEY & McELRATH, TRIBUNE BUILDI1 

1843. 



.C5<} 



Entered accoiding to an act of Congress, in the year 1842, by 
JAMES B. SWAIN, 
the Clerk's Office of the U. S. Court for the Southern District of New Y;,K.. 






J> 3i 



CONTEN T S 



?* 



cv vo. t ;cme L 



Preface, 5 

Memoir of Henry Clay, 7 

SPEECHES. 

Introduction, 1 

On the Line of the Perdido, S 

n n Arming for War with England, 15 

On the Increase of the Xavy, 22 

On the New Army Bill, 33 

On Internal Improvement, 55 

On the Emancipation of South America, 79 

On the Seminole War. 100 

On Protection to Home Industry, 139 

On Internal Improvement, 162 

On the Greek Revolution, 185 

Address to his Constituents, 194 

On American Industry, 219 

On African Colonization, 267 

On the Charge of Corruption, 2S5 

On Retiring from Office, 303 

APPENDIX. 

On Manu fac tures, 1 

On his Return from Ghent, 4 

On the Spanish Treaty, 6 

On the Mission to South America 15 



PREFACE. 



The biography of our country's most distinguished and honored statesmen is emi- 
nently fraught with encouragement and hope for her aspiring youth — especially tor 
those who enter upon the stage of active life unportioned and unheralded by the 
partial voice of powerful friends and kindred. Of the eight citizens who have at- 
tained the honors of the Presidency, Washington was descended from a family of 
country squires, Adams from a Puritan ancestry of unpresuming worth and undis- 
tinguished talent, and Harrison immediately from a signer of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and remotely from one of the Judges who condemned Charles 1. to the 
block. The others belong to that very large number who, in fashionable parlance, 
' had no grandfathers' — that is, who achieved eminence for themselves, and did 
not receive it from pedigrees. From Franklin down to Hamilton, the master-spirits 
of the Revolution were men who could never have hoped to achieve distinction as 
the colonists of a distant monarchy. Each of these carved out for himself a lofty 
niche in the Temple of Fame ; but seldom have their lineal successors presented any 
claim to rival, much less heighten, the glory which still faintly irradiates their brows. 
Of how many of the Patriots and Sages of thp past generation do we find the glory 
reflected in their descendants % 

Henrf Clay is one of the many among our eminent men who, beside the disad- 
vantages of poverty and obscurity, were fated to encounter that of early orphanage. 
His father, a clergyman of the Baptist persuasion, died while he was yet very young, 
leaving him nothing but a Christian example and an honest name. Yet he found 
friends to aid his acquirement of a knowledge of the Law, to which his powers w-ere 
early dedicated; he found and attached friends in the new home in th^ wild west 
to which his footsteps were turned while yet in his minority ; and at an age when 
men have rarely ventured to aspire to political distinction, he wlio had so lately en- 
tered Kentucky an unknown and friendless stripling, had passed from a seat in the 
Legislature to the Speaker's chair, and thence to the Senatp of the United States. 



His subsequent career has been such as to teach emphatically to the youth of Amer- 
ica this lesson — that no one who is conscious of possessing the requisite qualities 
need ever apprehend that humility of origin or obscurity of position will deprive 
him of opportunities to serve and honor his country- 

The volumes herewith presented are intended to trace clearly the career of Mr. 
Clay from his entrance on the stage of public life down to the present time — mainly 
by the light of his own lofty, persuasive and at times impassioned eloquence. A 
circumstantial original Memoir is prefixed, while a slender thread of narrative ac- 
companies, for the most part, the Speeches, with the view of elucidating them 
by a simple setting forth of the time, place and occasion. On this, however, 
no great stress is placed. Mr. Clay's parliamentary efforts, clear, direct and 
vigorous, generally embody all the illustration that is needful to their full understand- 
ing, a few words only suffice to set forth their bearing on the spirit and history of 
the times. The great importance, variety and indestructible interest of the topics 
he mainly discusses ; the character and ability of the orator, the direct and often exact 
bearing of his arguments on the controversies and interests of our own time, all 
combine to render his Speeches among the most valuable contributions of Patriot 
ism and Genius to the enlightenment and elevation of the American People. 

No labor has been spared to render this edition not only far more complete thaa 
any former one has been, but so perfect that there shall exist no necessity for one to 
come after it. The work is stereotyped, so as to afford opportunity for correcting 
any errors which may hereafter be detected, and to admit of the addition from time 
to time of the Speeches which Mr. Clay shall make hereafter : so that he who buys 
this work may complete it up to any future period without extra expense. It is hoped 
that this plan will receive the hearty approbation and support of the public, and es- 
pecially of the numerous and thick -gathering friends of the Great Statesman of the 
West. 

The Portrait which embellishes this volume is copied from an original painting 
by George Linex, and was recommended by Mr. Clay, as an excellent and faithful 
likeness. 

< 

The View of the Bhith place of He.vf.y Clay was copied from a drawing rnad«s 
on the spot. 

W«v-Yor!c, 1842. 



MEMOIR 



HENRY CLAY. 



" Ilia fame is so great throughout Uie world that he stands in no need of an encomium and jet his wor;h ie ninci 
jrrcater than his fame. It is impossible not lo speak great things of him, and jet it will 06 very difficult to speak 
wlia; he deserves." — CoLEiuDoa. 

•• If I desire to pass over a part in silence, whatever I omit will seem the most worthy to have been recorded." — 

CcAtjrjIAN. 



The most fitting' monument in honor of a public man is a 
faithful record of his public acts. If these be worthy, and 
the record simple, time, which destroys all things but good 
deeds and lofty thoughts, will embalm them for eternity. If 
they be base, eulogy adds a lie to their deformities, and they 
must perish of their own disease. In the spirit of this truth 
we address ourselves to the task before us. 

Hl:nry Clay was born on the 12th of April- 1777, in a 
district of Hanover County, Virginia, which, from its physi- 
cal character, and for lack of a better name, was familiarly 
known throughout the neighborhood as Tlie Slashes. His 
father was a Baptist clergyman, of fair talent and stern in- 
tegrity ; but as he died in 1781, before his character and 
habits could have exerted any influence upon those of his 
son, farther reference to them would be aside from our prin- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

t^pal purpose. At the age of four years, then, Henry was 
left, the fifth of seven children, without fortune, to the guar- 
dian care of an affectionate mother. She sent him to school 
— and he learned to read and write : and, as he grew older, 
the rudiments of English grammar, of arithmetic, and geo- 
graphy were acquired in the lowly district school, with 
which, at that time as well as this, Virginia was by no means 
too plentifully supplied. But here his education, so far as 
it depended on the mere formal teaching of others, abruptly 
stopped. His mother was poor — not only unable to procure 
for him the advantage of methodical study — but forced tc 
require his active services in aid of her own exertions. He 
applied himself to the labor of the field with alacrity and 
diligence ; he shunned no task, but embraced all duties ; 
and there yet live those who remember to have seen him 
oftentimes riding his sorry horse with a rope bridle, no saddle, 
and a bag of grain, to Mrs. Darricott's mill on the Pamunkey 
river. By the familiar name of the Mill Boy of the 
Slashes, do these men and their descendants even now per- 
petuate the remembrance, or the tradition, of his ltfwh*, yet 
dutiful and unrepining employments. 

During this period of his life he enjoyed the counsel and 
the care of his beloved mother, who was a woman fitted by 
her natural qualities to develop in her son, by her daily in- 
tercourse with him, that high-minded frankness and sinceri- 
ty of character which marked his course through the whole 
of his subsequent career. But, greatly to his regret, he was 
separated from her, and placed as clerk in a small retail 
store with Mr. Richard Denny, in Richmond, Virginia ; but 
we have no evidence that this, his new employment, was 
more to his taste than it was to that of his great predecessor, 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 9 

Patrick Henry, celebrated not more for his oratory than for 
the zeal and earnestness with which he wielded it in defence 
of his countrymen. He remained in this situation, however, 
until 1792, when his mother, having married Mr. Henry 
Watkins, removed to Woodford County, Kentucky, where 
she lived until her death, which occurred but a few years 
since. At her departure, he was placed in the office of Mr. 
Peter Tinsley, Clerk of the High Court of Chancery in the 
City of Richmond — ' being left,' as he says himself, in his 
latest speech, * without guardian, without pecuniary means of 
support, to steer his course as he might or could.' While 
here as clerk, he sought, as far as his leisure would admit, 
to repair, by his own irregular but earnest exertions, the lack 
of a systematic and thorough discipline ; and he was aided 
in this endeavor, and encouraged in his half-formed inten- 
tions to make Law his profession, by the counsel and con- 
versation of the then venerable Chancellor Wythe, who was 
frequently drawn to the office by his official business, and 
whose friendly attention was attracted by the mental acute- 
ness and discreet deportment of the youthful student. The 
Chancellor finally employed him as his amanuensis ; and he 
thus learned indirectly much that was useful in his after life. 
His principal business was to write, at the dictation of the 
Chancellor, his decisions, and comments upon those of the 
Court of Appeals, by which they were now and then revers- 
ed : the drudgery of his task, which, at best, was tiresome 
enough, was greatly enhanced by the passionate fondness 
of his employer for Grecian Literature, which led him to in- 
troduce into all his papers most liberal quotations from his 
favorite authors ; and these, in tfieir original, of which the 
laborious clerk knew not a letter, he had to copy. But of 
this he made no complaint ; it taught him the great lesson 

2 



10 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

of patient labor, which few men learn too well, and which, 
in fact, lays the foundation of all permanent greatness and 
worth. But he also learned the principles of grammar and 
the logical and rhetorical structure of sentences : and he 
found still farther aid in this in the direct advice and gui- 
dance of his venerable friend. 

Mr. Clay's situation with Mr. Tinsley introduced him to 
the acquaintance of many of the ablest and most distin- 
guished lawyers of the Old Dominion ; and the same excel- 
lent qualities of mind and heait which had drawn the no- 
tice and secured the favor of Chancellor Wythe gained for 
him the friendship and esteem of Robert Brooke, Esq, 
then Attorney General, and formeily Governor, of Virginia. 
At the invitation of this worthy man, in the latter part of 
1796, he took up his residence with him for the purpose of 
a more thorough and systematic study of the law than his 
situation with Mr. Tinsley rendered practicable. In his pre- 
vious intercourse with the members of the bar, in his attend- 
ance upon the courts, and in the copying of papers and that 
attention to the general business of a lawyer's office which 
the duties of his clerkship rendered necessary, with his ac- 
tive mind and observing disposition, he must have acquired 
much valuable legal information and some acquaintance with 
the general rules of legal process. But it was during this 
year that he spent with Mr. Brooke, that he principally 
pursued the methodic study of the law. 

At the end of the year, in November, 1797, Mr. Clay 
obtained a license to practice his profession, from the Judges 
of the Court of Appeals in his native State. But he chose 
not to attempt its practice there, but rather to follow the for- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 11 

..unes of his household gods. The same year he removed 
to the then little village of Lexington, in Kentucky, where 
for the first time, a beardless stranger, he was seen upon itc< 
streets. In the words of Chief Justice Robertson, of thai 
State, 'he came leaning alone on Providence, a widowed 
mother's prayers and the untutored talents with which God 
had been pleased to bless him.' Though he opened an 
office immediately upon his arrival, it does not appear that 
he engaged for some time in the active duties of his profes- 
sion. But to some extent it would seem that he must have 
entered into business ; for he tells us, in his speech pro- 
nounced at Lexington, June 9, 1842, that he * went there 
without patrons, without the favor or countenance of the 
great or opulent, and without the means of paying his week- 
ly board.' But the most of his time was devoted to the 
further prosecution of his legal studies, and to the general 
discipline of his mind, which he still felt to be very incom- 
plete. For the purpose of improvement in debate he joined 
a village club ; but for a long while took no active part in 
its proceedings. He seemed, to them who knew him slight- 
ly, to lack vigor and energy, was thin, slender and of appa- 
rently feeble constitution But even at that time it was re- 
marked by a distinguished literary gentleman of Lexington, 
that Mr. Clay's colloquial style was more habitually correct 
and elegant than that of any other young man he had ever 
known. His fellow-members of the Society, who knew his 
ability in this respect, were surprised at his unbroken silence 
at all their meetings ; and a remark he whispered to his 
neighbor one evening after a long debate, just as the ques- 
tion was about to be taken, that the subject did not seem to 
him to have been exhausted, appears to have awakened 
unusual attention. His words were heard by several and the 



12 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

Chairman was requested not to put the question then, as Mr. 
Clay would speak. He was thus directly called upon and 
manifested extreme embarrassment. He had never before 
made an attempt at public speaking, and seemed diffident 
and distrustful of his own abilities in an unusual degree. 
He had without doubt framed and uttered in his closet many 
a speech fitted for, but never pronounced in the Halls of 
Justice ; for this was betrayed by his opening words. He 
lacked confidence to keep his seat ; and as he rose, and with 
marked confusion attempted to speak, ' Gentlemen of the 
Jury'* were the first words that fell from his lips. His mis- 
take disturbed him the more, and he blundered them out 
again. But seeing the sympathy of his audience, who ap- 
preciated his feelings and were unwilling to add to his em- 
barrassment by seeming to notice it, their courtesy gave him 
confidence ; he shook off his timidity, and launched forth 
into an oration of great logical strength, of extreme beauty 
of diction and of thrilling eloquence, which excited the ad- 
miration and the profoundest respect of his hearers. Thus, 
was first sounded that voice, which like a stirring trumpet, 
arousing to all that is noble in action and patriotic in feeling, 
has for nearly half a century pealed through the length and 
the breadth of our land. After this Mr. Clay was a constant 
attendant upon the debates of the Society, and became at 
once one of its most active members. His voice mingled 
in every discussion, and he took good care to make thorough 
preparation upon every topic of debate ; his arguments al- 
ways bore marks of careful thought and evinced close rea- 
soning and a remarkable power of eloquent expression. He 
soon threw off the timidity which at first had so sadly per- 
plexed him, and acquired that perfect self-command and 
readiness of reply, which wpen so many important cccazlzzz 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 13 

in after life, he has exhibited alike to the admiration of 
others and to his own advantage. 

A few months after this first trial of his oratorial powers, 
Mr. Clay was admitted to practice before the Quarter Ses- 
sions of Fayette County, a Court of general jurisdiction. 
The Lexington bar was at that time celebrated foi its ability ; 
numbering among its members, John Breckenridge, George 
Nicholas, James Hughes, William Murray, and many 
others equally distinguished by intellectual strength and their 
profound legal acquirements. Entering into instant and un- 
aided rivalry with these lawyers of establishedreputation, 
Mr. Clay's hopes of immediate success were far from being 
sanguine. In the same speech to which we have before re- 
ferred, he says, with simple and touching grace, 'I remem- 
ber how comfortable I thought I should be if I could make 
.£100 Virginia money per year, and with what delight I re- 
ceived the first fifteen shilling fee.' But his success far ex- 
ceeded his most sanguine expectations. He 'immediately 
rushed into a lucrative practice.' The reason of this is easily 
seen, and is, to some extent, indicated by the character of the 
cases committed to his care. In a knowledge of the Law, of its 
great fundamental principles, and of the precedents by which 
these were to be maintained, as well as of the rules of plead- 
ing, and the minute details of Legal Practice, he was of 
course far inferior to the veterans of the bar, in whose pres- 
ence he had with such bold chivalry thrown down his glove. 
But. he was even then one of the most fluent and eloquent, 
speakers that ever addressed a Jury. He had a most musi- 
cal voice, a captivating address, and a power of appealing to 
the passions and sympathies of those he sought to move, 
which rarely failed to ensure success. His personal charac- 



14 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

ler was of the noblest stamp ; frank and generous to a fault, 
ardent in his attachments, sincere in all he said and did, 
scorning with his whole soul even a trick or an unworthy 
act, and cordially despising the man that could be guilty of 
cither, he bore about him that deportment and dignity which 
demanded as his right, and always secured, the perfect con- 
fidence of every man with whom he came in contact. He 
was quick to detect the workings of the minds of others, and 
prompt to take advantage of any bias, however slight, in 
favor of the cause he had espoused. These qualities placed 
him far in advance of the ablest of his elder brethren at the 
bar in the conduct especially of criminal cases, where the 
issue depended rather upon the judgment and feelings of d 
Jury than upon the cooler and more independent decision 
of the court. It was in this department of his profession 
therefore that Mr. Clay was principally engaged ; his sue 
cess was most decided, and the reputation he speedily ac 
quired most brilliant and distinguished. 

One of his biographers has cited several instances of tlm 
ability he displayed in particular cases and of the success 
which crowned his exertions. The records of the Kentucky 
courts are filled with the proofs of his legal power and of his 
extended practice. One of his earliest cases, there present- 
ed, is the defence of Mrs. Phelps, the respected descendant 
of a worthy family, and the blameless wife of an upright 
farmer : she was indicted for murder, and it was proved, be- 
yond possibility of cavil, by several witnesses, that she had 
killed her husband's sister, by shooting her through the heart 
upon a slight offence — the act for the commission of which 
she stood on trial. The circumstances of the case, the chai- 
ned: effhe ssse?s& ths bss-iy and -nh 1 : 1 : ±pz?z:?"* n * 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 16 

her victim, and the profoundest sympathy for her husband, 
bereaved of one dear friend, by the hand of another, awak- 
ened the deepest feeling- and gave to the trial interest of a 
thrilling intensity. It was no slight tribute to his ability that 
Mr. ClaY was employed in the defence of so delicate a case ; 
but the success which attended his efforts, fully justified the 
confidence reposed in him, and established his reputation as 
a criminal lawyer of unequalled promise. The fact of kill- 
ing, of course, could not be contested. The only point 
upon which a question could be raised, was as to the denomi- 
nation of the offence : was it murder or manslaughter? The 
prosecution was urged with great power and clearness; but 
31s. Ciay not only succeeded in convincing the jury that the 
crime committed was only manslaughter, but so moved the 
pity of the Court and the sympathy of the gathered multi- 
tude, that his client suffered only the lowest possible punish- 
ment allowed by the law. 

Soon after this Mr. Clay defended, in Harrison County, 
two Germans, father and son, indicted for a murder proved 
> o have been committed under highly aggravated circumstan- 
ces. Here, as in the other case, Mr. Clay's efforts were ex- 
erted to prove that the deed they had committed came under 
the description of manslaughter, and not under that for which 
they were indicted, and thus to save the lives of the wretch- 
ed prisoners. The trial lasted for five days ; and at its con- 
clusion Mr. Clay was completely successful. Not satisfied 
with this verdict in his favor — probably, though of this we 
are not informed, upon the ground that the jury could only 
return a verdict upon the specific indictment — he moved an 
arrest of judgment., and after a close argument of a day suc- 
ceeded also in this ; so that his clients were at once set free. 



16 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. , 

This result took the whole audience by surprise ; the pris- 
oners themselves, when they became convinced of its reality, 
manifested the utmost gratitude for Mr. Clay's exertions, 
though it must be confessed they were outdone in the enthu- 
siasm with which they expressed their thanks by an old and 
withered woman, the wife of one and the mother of the 
other ; for, in the excess of her thankfulness, which forbade 
all thought of tire proprieties of the place, in the crowded 
court-room, she threw her arms about the neck of Mr. Clay 
and covered him at once with kisses and confusion. The 
audience, however, had too much respect for the sincerity of 
her emotions to turn their exhibition to ridicule ; and Mr. 
Clay, though he certainly escaped her blandishments as soon 
as possible, received them with a graceful dignity which gave 
him additional favor in the eyes of the Court as well as of his 
somewhat too ardent, but sincere, admirer. 

We find recorded one or two other incidents of his early 
professional practice to which, for our purpose, no more than 
a bare reference will be necessary. The skill with which he 
could turn to his advantage a doubtful technical point, and 
the dignity of character which he brought into the advocacy 
of his cause, were well illustrated at the second trial, granted 
by the Court of Fayette County on motion of the Prosecuting 
Attorney, of a Mr. Willis, who was clearly proved to have 
committed murder, but escaped conviction by a disagreement 
of the jury. When the new trial came on, after listening 
attentively to the arguments of the Attorney for the State, 
Mr. Clay opened his case by laying down in its broadest ex- 
tent and urging as directly applicable to the case on trial, 
the rule of law that no man should twice be put in jeopardy 
for the same offence. The second trial of his client, there . 



MKMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 17 

fore, he urged was clearly illegal and a conviction would be 
impossible. The startled Court stopped the speaker and for- 
bade the argument. Mr. Clay declared with dignity and 
solemn earnestness that if he could not argue the whole case 
to the jury he had no more to say, and abruptly left the 
room. Of course the Court soon summoned him back and 
allowed him to pursue his own course. He now, with re- 
doubled vehemence, renewed his argument, and gained a 
verdict solely upon this point of law — without any reference 
to the nature of the testimony that had been adduced. 

In criminal cases, which were much the most frequent at 
that early day, in the State of Kentucky, Mr. Clay was al- 
most uniformly engaged on the side of the defendant. He 
was led to this by his strong natural sympathies not less than 
by the high reputation he had acquired in the professional 
conduct of similar cases. And, it is recorded, as an evidence 
of his remarkable power at the bar, that not one of the many 
prisoners tried for capital crimes whom he defended, ever 
received sentence of death at the hands of the law. Only 
one case appears in which he acted the part of Public Prose- 
cutor ; and in that, he procured the conviction of a slave who 
was indicted for murder in having killed his overseer in re- 
turn for a blow before inflicted upon him for some imaginary 
offence. That even this discharge of his duty was repugnant 
to the inherent kindness of Mr. Clay's nature is shown by 
the fact that he has often been heard to regret, more than 
any other act of his life, the part he took in the conviction 
of this friendless negro. 

But a single example of his ability and success in the trial 
of civil cases is preserved, though it is said generally that he 

3 



18 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

had no'rival in the management of suits that involved the 
land-laws of Virginia and Kentucky. In one of these cases, 
being called away by business of his own, he left the whole 
to his associate counsel. Two days were spent upon the ar- 
gument, and Mr. Clay's colleague had been foiled at every 
point. Just as the trial was about to close Mr. Clay entered 
the Court ; and, though he knew next to nothing of the na- 
ture of the testimony, after a brief consultation with his friend, 
he drew up in written form the instructions he wished the 
Court to give to the jury, and maintained his positions with 
such cogency and force that his request was granted, and the 
case was at once decided in his favor. For the quickness of 
his comprehension and the ready power with which he seized 
upon, and maintained, the principal points of any case, so 
remarkably evinced upon this trial, Mr. Clay in his after life 
has been especially distinguished. 

Mr. Clay's first entrance upon political life was proudly 
signalized by that chivalric boldness, so marked a feature of 
his whole character, which threw to the winds every thought 
of personal popularity and gave force only to the generous 
impulses of his heart and to his own profound conviction of 
the truth and justice of the principle he had espoused. In 
1797, the very year in which he had first put his foot within 
her borders, Kentucky was taking measures to frame for her- 
self a new Constitution. In many respects the provisions of 
the old one were unsuited to her rapid growth and to the pe- 
culiar temper of her inhabitants. Slavery had been legal- 
ized upon her soil and had become firmly wrought into her 
social frame-work. This, though by no means a subject of 
general complaint, was still regarded with deep hostility by 
a respectable minority of her people ; and they had submit- 



MEMOIR OF HEKRY CLAY. 



19 



ted for consideration a plan for its gradual and safe abolition. 
Their proposed object at once enlisted the most ardent sym- 
pathies of Mr. Clay ; and by all the means within his reach, 
through the public press and in assemblies of the people, his 
best powers were exerted for its success. He was impelled 
to this course by a deep conviction of the justice of the cause 
not less than by the profoundest sympathies of his nature. 
Then, as now and through all his life, he expressed, openly 
and frankly, his thorough opposition to slavery in all its 
forms — deploring its existence, zealously seeking to break 
its chains, when the disruption would not endanger the peace 
and happiness of the slaves themselves, as well as of their 
masters, and to soften its asperities by all the means within 
his reach. Then, as now, he regarded the sanctity of Law 
and the well-being of Society as considerations of the highest 
importance — and the first as the sole condition of the last. 
He looked upon slavery as it exists at the present day in sev- 
eral of the States of this Union, as a grievous misfortune — a 
sad calamity which from its nature could not be shaken off 
with the tyranny of the mother country which had entailed 
it upon them. It had become deeply rooted in their social 
and political institutions, had intertwined itself with all the 
interests of the people, and had drawn to itself a large por- 
tion of the life of the State. Any sudden effort to uproot it 
from its deep foundation, he then perceived, as clearly as he 
has always seen it since, must be attended with most immi- 
nent danger to the institutions and interests that have grown 
up around it, and must spread desolation over the fair face 
of society. Nor in his view would a summary emancipation 
be productive of lees certain ruin to the slaves themselves 
than to the other members of the commonwealth. Without 
exception they were ignorant, destitute of moral culture, and 



20 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

by no "means prepared for the unprotected condition into 
which their rash and ill judging friends of the present day 
are striving to see them plunged. All these considerations 
had the same weight with Mr. Clay in 1797 as they have 
ever exerted since ; and the plan of relief to which he then 
gave his ardent support, and which he still regards as upon 
the whole the safest and the best, embraced them all in 
its provisions. It proposed that the generation then in bond- 
age should so remain ; but that all their offspring, born after 
the passage of the law, should receive their freedom on arriv- 
ing at a certain age ; and made it the duty of their masters 
to give to them, meantime, such instruction as should fit them 
for the contemplated change in their condition. This plan 
had been some years before adopted in Pennsylvania — at the 
instance of Dr. Franklin ; and the fact that a man of so 
eminent ability and so highly practical in all his schemes 
had given to it his warm approval, spoke almost as loudly in 
its favor as did the distinguished success with which it had 
been crowned in his noble State. 

But though founded in essential justice and shown to be 
essentially safe to the commonwealth, the people of Ken- 
tucky were decidedly hostile to these great principles : and 
by the ardor with which he upheld and enforced them the 
rising fame of Mr. Clay was overcast by public odium. The 
great majority of the members of the Convention which as- 
sembled to revise the Constitution of the State voted against 
any change in this feature of her existing laws ; and though 
Mr. Clay bowed with the utmost deference, as he has al- 
ways done, to the will of the People, who alone had a right 
to decide the question, his own conviction of the Justice of 
hia cause remained unclouded, and his sympathies for the 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 21 

slave uncooled by marked manifestations of the popular dis- 
pleasure — always so chilling to the heart of young ambition. 
He continued, without fear, to plead the cause of the op- 
pressed negro. In his professional practice whenever his 
aid could be of any service to the slave, it was freely offered; 
and it is said that he never, in the whole course of his life, 
failed at the bar to obtain a decision in favor of one whose 
cause he had espoused. 

The same impulsive love of freedom, and hatred of any 
encroachment upon its just enjoyment, which led Mr. Clay 
into this sagacious though unpopular measure of relief to the 
African slaves, soon found, in the rising events of the day, 
a new field for its exercise, and it urged Mr. Clay into the 
support of a cause more consonant with the feelings of the 
people than that in which he had just incurred their deep 
dislike. In 1798-9 the famous Alien and Sedition laws 
were established, during the administration, though in no 
other respect under the auspices, of the elder Adams. 

So palpably were they in direct violation of the spirit of 
our institutions, that the circumstances under which they 
were passed, and the evidence they furnished of the exceed- 
ing caution which marked every step of our first great ex- 
periment in the establishment of national freedom, seemed 
not in the least to mitigate the intense indignation which in- 
stantly greeted their enactment. The attempt to establish 
in this country political institutions, based upon the funda- 
mental principles of equality and the right of self-govern- 
ment, which was at that time very far from being completely 
successful, was not a sudden and violent uprising of men la- 
boring under a sense of wrongful oppression ; it was no vol- 



22 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

canic outburst of pent-up, struggling energies — but a oalm, 
deliberate effort, demanding all the strength of continued 
firmness, guided by the clearest rules of caution and foresight. 
But, besides this general feature of our government which 
should go far to excuse any measures of reasonable precau- 
tion against the dangers of swelling passion, the enactments 
in question found an apology, though by no means a justifi- 
cation, in the aspect of our relations with foreign powers and 
especially with France. The anarchy and bloodshed, which 
succeeded the storming of the Tuileries and the subversion 
of the government on the 10th of August, 1792, while they 
struck horror and dread, for the safety of Liberty, to the 
hearts of all considerate men, seemed strangely to arouse the 
worst passions of the American people. The light, which 
glared from the altars on which rested human hecatombs 
offered in sacrifice to the idols of the French Republic, 
blinded the eyes of Americans to the blood that rolled in 
rivers at their base. The Proclamation of Neutrality in the 
war between France and England which soon ensued, en- 
countered the most virulent opposition among the partisans 
of France within the United States ; and the strange and 
alarming spectacle was soon presented of a Minister of a for- 
eign power coming to our midst, seeking to drive our govern- 
ment into a breach of all our treaties and into a state of ac- 
tive hostility with nations to whom we were allied in the 
most sacred bonds of peace, and, when he failed in this, 
braving our authority, seizing prizes within our jurisdiction, 
enlisting men and fitting out privateers in our very midst, 
and finally insulting the nation and stabbing its peace and 
even existence by threatening, in terms of defiance, " to ap- 
peal from the government to the people." This marked 
violation of national courtesy on the part of M. GE»ET,and 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 23 

all the violent measures by which it was seconded by his 
government at home, were followed by a deliberate attempt 
by his successor to influence the result of the approaching 
election of a President of the United States : and this was 
sustained with able and unscrupulous effort by a great por- 
tion of the press of the Union. Breach of faith, plighted to 
foreign nations was urged ; war with all its horrors was in- 
voked ; rebellion and civil commotion were excited, and the 
nation was plunged into disorder and confusion. Out of this 
state of the public mind, and in the effort to stay the deso- 
lating anarchy, which seemed ready to burst upon the land, 
the Alien and Sedition Laws were enacted by Congress, and 
with the sanction of the President. The first gave to the 
Executive of the United States, power, whenever he should 
deem its exercise necessary to the safety of the Republic, to 
order from her territory the departure of any Alien whose 
presence he might judge hostile to the public peace. The 
second subjected to an action at law, such persons as should 
tl indite, or publish, any writings, with intent to defame the 
Government of the United States, the President or either 
House of Congress, to bring them into disrepute or to excite 
the hatred of the people against them :" upon conviction be- 
fore a United States Court, such persons were to pay a fine 
of not more than two thousand dollars, and to suffer impris- 
onment for not more than two years : — upon trial the accus- 
ed had the right to give in evidence, in their defence, the 
truth of the matter charged as libelous and the jury were to 
determine both the law and the fact. The presumed neces- 
sity for the first of these precautionary measures, was found 
in the active exertions of emissaries from France, by whose 
agency clubs had been formed throughout the country, de- 
signed and well calculated to exert a powerful influence in 



24 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

favor of that nation and against the administration of our 
0W n — the controlling head being at Philadelphia. The un- 
exampled virulence of the public press, so extreme and scan- 
dalous as even to give currency to the loudest denunciations 
against the Father of his Country for alleged abuses, which 
if proved would have sent him to the penitentiary or the scaf- 
fold, and so shameless as to proclaim from high places, of 
President Adams that " the hoary traitor had only completed 
the scene of ignominy which Mr. Washington had begun," 
seemed to those, who regarded the early operation of our in- 
stitutions as, at best, a doubtful and hazardous experiment, 
to furnish a fit occasion for the interference of the strong arm 
of the Law. 

The spirit with which these enactments were received by 
the people of the Union was in perfect unison with that evinc- 
ed by the great leader of the opposition, Thomas Jefferson, 
in a private letter written at about the time of their passage : 
w For my own part," said he, " I consider those laws as 
merely an experiment on the American mind, to see how far 
it will bear an avowed violation of the Constitution. If this 
goes down, we shall immediately see attempted another act 
of Congress, declaring that the President shall continue in 
office during life, reserving to another occasion the transfer 
of the succession to his heirs, and the establishment of the 
Senate for life. That these things are in contemplation I 
nave no doubt ; nor can I be confident of their failure, after 
' the dupery of which our countrymen have shown themselves 
susceptible."* Throughout the whole length and breadth 
of the country the enactment of these laws was regarded as 

• Jefferson's Works, tol. m, p. 402. 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 25 

a direct violation of the Constitution, as an indefensible as- 
sault upon the rights of the people and as the initial step 
towards the erection of an arbitrary monarchical power in 
the United States. Resolutions were adopted by the Legis- 
latures of many of the States denouncing their principles, and 
the administration under which they had been established, in 
the most violent terms of indignant remonstrance ; and 
meetings of the people, in their primary assemblies had been 
repeatedly held for the reiteration of kindred sentiments. 
The subject was brought before the Legislature of Kentucky 
by the Governor, in his message of November, 1798 ; and a 
series of resolutions, introduced by Mr. Breckenridge, and 
adopted by the Assembly, denouncing the laws in angry and 
decided terms, unquestionably embodied the prevailing popu- 
lar sentiment of the State. The same topic was discussed at 
public gatherings, all over the commonwealth, by the ablest 
and most prominent men within her borders ; but among 
them all no one acquired greener lauiels or spoke upon the 
subject, before the people, with greater clearness of thought, 
earnestness of conviction or eloquence of appeal than Mr. 
Clay. The zeal and effect of his efforts on this occasion, in 
behalf of popular rights, gained for him the proud title of the 
" Great Commoner," and the high position of a leader of the 
Democratic party in the State. We have preserved but a 
single anecdote of his exertions at this period of his life. At 
Lexington an immense number of citizens had assembled to 
listen to a discussion of this engrossing topic. They were 
first addressed by Mr. George Nicholas, one of the most dis- 
tinguished orators in Kentucky, in a long and most eloquent 
speech, which drew forth the loudest applause of that great 
concourse. In obedience to the loud and repeated calls of 
the people, Mr. Clay appeared upon the stand and addressed 

4 



26 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAT. 

the multitude, for more than an hour, upon the designed ex- 
ecutive encroachments indicated by the enactment of the par- 
ticular laws they were assembled to discuss. He thrilled 
their hearts by his vivid description of the ruin to which, 
under the weight of the high-toned federal doctrines of the 
administration, the country was sinking, and appealed to 
them, with unequalled power, by all the motives that could 
have weight with the human heart, to rise up against the op- 
pression beneath which they were so fearfully crushed. The 
impression made upon the minds of those who heard him 
was profound and engrossing. He ceased — and his audience 
remained hushed in silence. The feelings excited by his 
words were too deep for tumultuous expression, and they 
thought not of the speaker, until they heard the voice of Mr. 
William Murray, a worthy and respectable man, but a 
strong federalist and a bitter opponent of the opinions of Mr. 
Clay, attempting a reply to the arguments to which they 
had just listened with such breathless attention. But their 
feelings were too intense to endure a rude assault : and, dri- 
ving the speaker by clamorous murmur from the ground, they 
seized Mr. Clay and his colleague, and, forcing them into a 
carriage, drove them in triumph, and amid loud shouts of 
rapturous applause, through the streets and public places of 
the village of Lexington. This was a victory, which, in the 
breast of a young man might well arouse hopes and aspira- 
tions of unlimited fame. 

The canvass throughout the State of Kentucky, during the 
Presidential election of 1800, was exceedingly animated: 
the sentiment of the State was most decidedly opposed to the 
leading features of the Adams administration, demanding a 
policy more thoroughly democratic, and entertaining none 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 2T 

of that distrust of the ability and virtue of the people, which 
led the existing government to adopt measures of unwise pre- 
caution against those who had entrusted their rights and li- 
berties to its control. Mr. Clay, through all the struggle, 
bore a conspicuous and an effective part. His abilities as an 
orator gave him great influence with the people, and to his 
exertions, in no slight degree, was to be attributed the great 
unanimity with which the different sections of Kentucky 
gave their united votes in favor of Jefferson as the succes- 
sor of Mr. Adams. 

The devotion of Mr. Clay, in after life, to the great prin- 
ciple of Protection to American Industry, and the splendid 
efforts, in its advocacy, with which his name has, for many 
years, been so closely connected, may justify allusion, in this 
place, to the fact that, as early as 1800, a meeting was held 
in Bourbon County, Ky., at which it was resolved to pur- 
chase no imported articles for which in exchange home pro- 
ducts would not be received ; and, by all the means in their 
power, to encourage home manufactures of every kind. How 
far these proceedings were directly effective we have no 
means of judging : that to some extent, they gave shape and 
rigor to subsequent exertions cannot well be doubted. 

In 1803, during the absence of Mr. Clay at the Olympian 
Springs, occurred the State Election at which his name wai 
first proposed as a candidate for the lower house of the Le- 
gislature. Without his knowledge a poll was opened for him 
in the County of Fayette. His opponents were able and dis- 
tinguished men : and apart from general politics, the promi- 
nent question of most local interest, involved in the election, 
wm that relating to the Lexington Insurance Company — 



28 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

which had been chartered by the Legislature of the previous 
year and of which, it was well known, a strong party, with 
Felix Grundy, then a young and eloquent lawyer, at theii 
head, purposed the destruction. The immediate object of 
the Company was to insure boats and their cargoes on the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers ; but the most obnoxious feature 
of the charter was a power, indirectly granted to the Com- 
pany, of taking and giving bills by assignment and making 
such as were payable to the bearer negotiable by delivery. 
This was regarded as, in effect, clothing the Company with 
the powers of a Banking Corporation ; and Mr. Grundy had 
been zealously canvassing the Counties South of Kentucky 
river, as the champion of that party which urged a repeal of 
the charter, which, by its very terms, was established beyond 
the power of repeal, until January 1, 1818. Mr. Clay re- 
garded this attempt as clearly unconstitutional and inexpe- 
dient ; and he was, therefore, selected as their candidate, by 
the friends of the Company in the County of Fayette. By 
reason of his absence he took no part in the contest, nor did 
he, indeed, arrive at the place where the poll was held until 
the morning of the third day of the election, his opponents 
having, meantime, been constant and eloquent in their ha- 
rangues to the people, vindicating their measures and solicit- 
ing their votes. Upon witnessing, at his arrival, the arts 
which had been practised to ensure his defeat, his feelings 
were awakened and he addressed the electors in a long and 
powerful speech — explaining his opinions upon the general 
political questions involved in the struggle, as well as that 
upon which the result was more immediately to turn ; and 
appealing to their knowledge of his character and abilities 
against the representations of his older opponents. He was 
elected by a large majority : and, on taking his seat, easily 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 29 

defeated the attempt that was made to procure the repeal of 
the Insurance charter. 

At the next session, in 1804, Mr. Grundy himself obtained 
a seat in the House and with him a majority, pledged to sup- 
port his views. Though certain of defeat, the friends of the 
Company desired that the action of the House in repealing 
their charter should be clearly understood by the people at 
large : and it was resolved, therefore, that the question should 
not be taken until the subject had been thoroughly discussed. 
Mr. Clay and Mr. Grundy, of course, conducted the debate ; 
and as both were young, ambitious, and eloquent, the House 
was thronged for the two days which it occupied, with atten- 
tive and admiring spectators of the brilliant contest. Mr. 
Grundy was strong and extremely adroit ; but he was clearly 
inferior in all the points of logical and effective argument to 
Mr. Clay : and, although the question in the House was de- 
cided in favor of Repeal, the Senate, whose members had 
been present during the whole discussion, immediately re- 
versed their decision and the Company retained its charter. 
Strong efforts were made at this session, likewise, to procure 
the removal of the State Capitol from Frankfort. They had 
been repeated for several years and were again renewed in 
1805, when Mr. Clay urged the removal with great effect 
and admirable humor. The objections to Frankfort, how- 
ever, seem not to have been very weighty, while it was plau- 
sibly urged, that by the first selection of that place, a virtual 
pledge of the permanent location of the Capitol there, had , 
been given to those who had thereby been induced to invest 
their property in lots, houses, and village improvements. Mr. 
Clay succeeded, however, in securing the co-operation of a 
majority of the Legislature ; but as a vote of two-thirds 



30 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

was required by the Constitution, the removal was not 
effected. 

In 1806 occurred the connection of Mr. Clay with the trial 
of Aaron Burr, which some of his bitterest enemies sought, 
upon subsequent developements, to make the occasion for 
bold but most impotent assaults upon his integrity and patri- 
otism. The circumstances of Burr's arrest were such as to 
excite and well-nigh justify the suspicion, in the absence of 
positive evidence, that the charges against him had their 
origin in the political enmity of the leaders of the Federal 
party in Kentucky. Vague rumors of ambitious and ille- 
gal military enterprises, threatening the peace of the western 
States and the Spanish colonies on the South Western bor- 
ders, had for some time been afloat ; and, in connection with 
other causes, had occasioned no little popular uneasiness. 
While everything, however, was still indefinite and uncer 
tain, two men, named John Wood and J. M. Street, who 
had just come from the East, established in Frankfort a Week- 
ekly paper called " The Western World :" and in some of its 
earliest numbers they published what seemed to be a circum- 
stantial narrative of events connected with these rumors of 
treasonable conspiracy. Still these statements were bare as- 
sertions, unsupported by evidence, and bearing upon their 
face no great probability. They were mainly, too, anony- 
mous, being in the form of communications under the signa- 
ture of " An Observer," since known to have been written 
by Mr. Humphrey Marshall, a bitter Federalist, chiefly dis- 
tinguished by his intense hatred of everything in any way 
connected with the democratic party, of which Burr at that 
time was a prominent member. For the more certain accom- 
plishment of their purposes, which by that very act were 



HEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 31 

made evident, an address was drawn up by the same pen re- 
peating - the statements of u An Observer" and preferring 
charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy against the 
leading members of the Jefferson party in Kentucky, inclu- 
ding Judges of the Court of Appeals and many of Mr. Clay's 
warmest and most distinguished friends : the paper was laid 
before the Legislature and an investigation prayed. It was 
granted, but resulted in no important disclosures. The whole 
matter was soon dropped in the Legislature, as too frivolous 
to call for further notice ; and the sympathies of the people 
were strongly enlisted against the agents in this attempt to 
blast the character, and ruin the fortunes, of some of their 
most worthy and eminent citizens. 

In the summer of this same year, a visit of Col. Burr to 
Lexington, on his return from New Orleans, gave occasion 
for a renewal of the rumors of extended and dangerous in- 
trigues. His movements were suspicious, and, in the early 
autumn, his military movements on the Ohio river became 
matter of notoriety. The same " Observer" published an- 
other disclosure of intended treasons, artfully drawn, clothed 
in mystery, and intended to direct legal proceedings against 
Col. Burr. In this it was successful : and at the opening of 
the U. S. Court in November Col. J. H. Daveiss, the U. S. 
Attorney, presented an affidavit charging Burr with being 
engaged in preparations for a military invasion of the provin- 
ces of Mexico, in which the whole Western territory of the 
United States was involved, and declaring that he believed 
the charge could be fully substantiated by evidence : and 
upon this affidavit he grounded a motion for the arrest, of Col. 
Burr. After a due consideration of the only evidence that 
was offered, the Court denied the motion. Col. Burr was 



32 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

present, and, in a speech of great dignity, spoke of the very 
harsh proceedings that had been instituted against him, and, 
lest the same should be repeated in his absence, he asked as 
a favor to himself a trial before a jury — for which he would 
at any moment be prepared. His bearing conciliated uni- 
versal favor; and, when viewed in connection with previous 
and similar charges against citizens of Kentucky, which had 
been dismissed by the Legislature of that State as of no va- 
lidity, the proceedings against him were regarded as spring- 
ing from a groundless and unwarrantable persecution. The 
public feeling was, therefore, strongly in his favor. His re- 
quest for a trial was granted and a jury empaneled. On the 
day of the trial the Court room was crowded to suffocation 
with eager spectators, all of whom, as well as the Court it- 
self and the prisoner, were surprised by a motion from the 
prosecuting attorney for a discharge of the jury by reason of 
the absence of a material witness — Davis Floyd, a member 
of the Indiana Legislature, whose attendance could not, there- 
fore, be enforced. The motion was granted, and thus no in- 
dictment was found. Burr expressed his extreme regret at 
the delay and vexation to which he was subjected, and said 
that as he acted upon thedefensive only, he should hold him- 
self at all times ready for another attack. 

Subsequent events induced the Attorney for the United 
States to renew the prosecution ; and the 2d of December 
was the day appointed for the trial. Col. Burr meantime 
had applied to Mr. Clay for his legal advice and assistance 
as counsel, in connection with Col. Allen, deeming the en- 
listment of Mr. Clay's powerful eloquence and legal skill, in 
his behalf, the surest mea»s of his speedy acquittal. Mr. 
Clay meantime had been elected by the Legislature, a Sen- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 33 

ator of the United States ; and he felt, therefore, weighty 
scruples, as to the propriety of undertaking the defence of a 
man charged with treason. He remained in doubt until 
Burr, probably fearing that he should lose his valuable aid 
from a suspicion of his guilt, addressed to Mr. Clay a note 
solemnly declaring that he had never taken the first step 
towards effecting the designs attributed to him by the prose- 
cution, that he owned not a single article of military stores, 
that his views were understood by the administration and re- 
garded by it with complacency, and concluding with the fol- 
lowing emphatic assurance : — " Considering the high station 
you now fill in the national councils, I have thought these 
explanations proper, as well to counteract the chimerical 
tales, which malevolent persons have so industriously circu- 
lated, as to satisfy you that you have not espoused the cause 
of a man in any way unfriendly to the laws, the government 
or the interests of his country." Placing confidence in this 
gratuitous declaration of Col. Burr, and influenced, proba- 
bly, to some extent by the universal sympathy which was 
felt in his behalf, Mr. Clay consented to appear in his de- 
fence, but declined to receive for his services any fee or com- 
pensation. 

Mr. Clay was now opposed to Col. Daviess with whom 
he had, but a short time before, had a personal difference 
which nearly resulted in a duel. He had from his first ap- 
pearance at the bar, without hesitation, always undertaken 
the defence of the weak and unfortunate against the rich and 
powerful, without the slightest regard to the chance of ob- 
taining Ins fee or to the wealth and station arrayed against 
him. Col. Daviess, in a moment of passion, had struck a 
tavern keeper in Frankfort, who immediately obtained a writ 

5 



34 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

against him. This was easily done — but he could find no 
attorney who dared to undertake its prosecution. The ac 
cused was a man of the highest ability and influence, and his 
displeasure was deprecated by the bar with especial earnest- 
ness. Mr. Clay, however, on receiving a statement of the 
merits of the case, assumed its management without hesita- 
tion. Upon the trial Col. Daviess, who conducted his own 
defence, was excessively severe upon the tavern-keeper at 
whose suit he was arraigned. Mr. Clay replied in a manner 
which stung the defendant to the quick : and he immediately 
addressed a note to Mr. Clay, warning him somewhat sternly 
against the indulgence of so offensive language. He receiv- 
ed in answer that Mr. Clay intended to manage his client's 
case without advice from any one and least of all from his 
client's antagonist. Col. Daviess was incensed and sent Mr 
Clay a challenge. It was promptly accepted, but the inter- 
ference of mutual friends compromised the matter, and a 
cordial reconciliation was effected. 

When the day set down for Burr's trial arrived, the U. S. 
Attorney again applied for delay on the ground that impor- 
tant witnesses were absent. Mr. Clay opposed the motion, 
representing in strong terms the injustice they were doing to 
the accused by thus advancing charges of so serious import 
and then denying him, by repeated delays, an opportunity 
to establish his innocence : he contended that the rights of 
Col. Burr demandedthatthecauseshould either be speedily 
prosecuted or finally abandoned ; and procured the decision 
of the Judge that the Attorney must proceed with the trial. 
The evidence was then sent to the Grand Jury, who returned 
that, after the closest scrutiny, they could find nothing, in 
the testimony submitted, to criminate the accused in the 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 36 

slightest degree ; " nor can we," they added, " from all the 
inquiry and investigations of the subject, discern that any- 
thing improper or injurious to the government of the United 
States, or contrary to the laws thereof, is designed or contem- 
plated." This verdict was hailed with the loudest applause 
by the people of Kentucky, and confirmed Mr. Clay in the 
belief that he was not entering upon the defence of an un- 
worthy man. What course of conduct he would have pur- 
sued, if this had not been his most decided conviction, 
is shown by his treatment of Burr after his real designs had 
been unmasked. While in Washington not long afterwards, 
Mr. Clay received, from President Jefferson, an acount of 
the letter in cypher written by Burr to Gen. Wilkinson and 
sent by Samuel Swartwout, in which he expressly declares 
that he has commenced operations, that he intends to proceed 
down the Mississippi, seize upon Baton Rouge, and carry his 
conquests to the Spanish provinces ; and giving details of his 
movements and organization which entirely forbade all fur- 
ther belief of his innocence. A ftcr this unimpeachable proof 
of his guilt, Mr. Clay did not meet Burr until many years 
had elapsed, upon the return of the former from Ghent. 
While in New York he entered one of the court-rooms and 
was, of course, the centre of attraction to all the spectators. 
While talking with a friend Col. Burr came in, saluted Mr. 
Clay, and offered his hand. Mr. Clay declined to receive it 
and coldly repelled all Burr's efforts to engage him in con- 
versation. 

In December, 1806, Mr. Clay took his seat in the Senate 
of the United States, to which he had been elected by the 
Legislature of Kentucky for a single session, the residue of 
the term of Gen. John Adair, who had resigned his seat, 



36 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

He found that the attention of Congress was chiefly engrossed 
by a bill to erect a bridge over the Potomac river at George- 
town ; and, just at the time of his arrival, the measure was 
under debate in the body of which he was a member. He 
soon found that his presence at that particular crisis was 
deemed a matter of special interest : for it had been ascer- 
tained that the Senate would be equally divided upon the 
question and that his vote would, therefore, without a doubt, 
decide it. Although he was a stranger, he found himself at 
once surrounded by the citizens of Georgetown, who show- 
ered upon him their warmest civilities, in the hope, as he 
well knew, of influencing his determination in voting upon 
the bill. He had not a moment's hesitation as to the course 
he should pursue ; his convictions were strongly in favor of 
the measure, believing that Congress, beyond a doubt, had 
the power to construct such works of Internal Improvement 
as should be found necessary fully to effect the purposes con- 
templated by the Constitution ; and it is a fact of no slight 
significance, when taken in connection with his subsequent 
opinions, when this came to be one of the chief points of disa- 
greement between the two leading parties of the countiy, 
that the first effort of Mr. Clay, in the Halls of Congress, 
should have been in defence of this great principle, which 
he just as strenuously urged when its application became of 
so much higher importance. Many statesmen of great fame, 
there are among us, who would find essential difficulty in iden- 
tifying, among the principles they now uphold, any of those 
upon which they first obtained advent into the national coun- 
cils. The first speech of Mr. Clay on the floor of the Senate, 
was in favor of the erection of this bridge : and, though it was 
never reported, tradition has handed it down as one of the 
ablest and most effective ever pronounced, by so young a 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 37 

member, within the walls of the Capitol. It secured to the 
measure the support of every member of the Senate who was 
not bound by a previous pledge to oppose it, and its passage 
was thereby at once effected. During the same session Mr. 
Clay had other opportunities of evincing the maturity of his 
views upon this subject. He presented a resolution in Feb- 
ruary, 1807, urging an appropriation for a canal in Kentucky ; 
and made an able report in its favor as chairman of a Select 
Committee to whom the matter was referred. He also pre- 
sented at about the same time a resolution to provide for the 
improvement of the Ohio Navigation, which was adopted by 
a large majority, in the Senate. Upon his motion, also, a 
call was made upon the Secretary of the Treasury for all the 
information in his possession, concerning the opening of ca- 
nals and the various other works of internal improvement 
commenced or carried forward under the direction of Congress. 

During this first session of Mr. Clay's service, a motion 
was made to suspend the habeas corpus, for the purpose ofj 
giving to the Executive power to arrest, summarily, and with- 
out the delays of the law, Col. Burr, the extent and depra- 
vity of whose designs were then generally known, but who 
still was entitled to all the rights granted by the law to any 
citizen accused of crime. Though Mr. Clay did not speak 
upon the motion, by reason of his having so recently been 
Burr's counsel on his preliminary examination, he voted 
against it out of a sacred regard for the supremacy of the 
laws, for a breach of which he believed there was no exist- 
ing emergency sufficient to justify. It was carried, however, 
in the Senate, but defeated in the House of Representatives. 
The law in question, we believe, has never been suspended 
since the first formation of our government. 



38 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

• In the summer of 1807, his brief Senatorial term having 
expired, Mr. Clay returned to Kentucky, and was again 
elected a member of the Legislature by the citizens of Fayette 
County. The fact that he had acted as the professional ad- 
viser of Col. Burr, whose traitorous schemes had at this time 
been fully exposed, was used by his unscrupulous opponents, 
with unrelenting bitterness but most unavailing effect, to ex- 
cite the popular indignation against him. But the attempt 
proved utterly futile, and he was elected by a much larger 
majority than he had ever before received. At the opening 
of the session he was chosen Speaker of the Assembly by a 
large majority, and discharged the duties of that responsible 
office with singular dignity and unequalled skill. He also 
frequently took part in the debates of the House and on sev- 
eral occasions influenced, in a very evident manner, the de- 
cissions of that body. One of the most important topics de- 
cided at this session, upon which the voice of Mr. Clay was 
heard, was a most unwise proposition to prohibit the reading 
in a Kentucky court of any British elementary work or law, 
or the citation of any precedent of a British court. Singular 
as it may appear, the measure was strongly supported and 
four-fifths of the House seemed inclined to vote in its favor. 
They seemed to have been determined to this, not by any 
well-founded, or even professed, objections to the Common 
Law in itself or by any apprehension that the administration 
of Justice would not be secured by an adherence to its uni- 
versal principles ; but by that patriotic, but somewhat illib- 
eral, zeal, which inclined them to regard with hatred and 
distrust everything of British origin, since they had found her 
political institutions unsuited to their condition, and less re- 
gardful of human rights than those they had sought to esta- 
blfch* With those who were but slightly asqcakitdd with the 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 39 

trae character of this copious fountain of justice, a prejudice 
of this nature seems very generally to have prevailed. They 
are accustomed to regard the administration of justice as in 
a great measure dependant upon the conduct of the govern- 
ment ; and they find it difficult to believe that under a politi- 
cal power, founded upon erroneous conceptions of the true 
nature and purposes of civil authority, and known, in repeat- 
ed instances, most wantonly to have violated the principles 
of liberty and of right, the requirements of justice should be 
either well understood and clearly defined or administered in 
uprightness and integrity. In the heat of their iconoclastic 
zeal they shut their eyes to all that is venerable and sacred 
in this stupendous fabric of ancient wisdom, built up by cen- 
turies of devoted labor, and consecrated by the sanction of 
ages; and draw a feeling, from its very age, of hostility to 
its precepts and distrust of its principles : like the bold Rob 
Roy of Wordsworth, untutored in the lessons of time, they 
are ready to exclaim, with indignant enthusiasm, 

" What need of Books T 
Bum all the Statutes and their shelves !" 

This prejudice in the Legislature of Kentucky seems to have 
had unusual strength ; and it was in direct and almost hope- 
less opposition to the prevailing temper, that Mr. Clay raised 
his voice against the dangerous desecration they were about 
to commit. He regarded with a veneration too profound, to 
look with complacency upon its downfall, this stupendous 
trunk of judicial freedom — sown in terror, nursed by tempests, 
and planted deep in the constitution of society by the storms 
and whirlwinds with which, from its earliest infancy, it had 
successfully wrestled. The display of eloquent remonstrance 



40 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

which he made, against the proposed measure, is said to have 
been of overwhelming vehemence and rarely equaled power. 
He found in the course of the discussion, that, if he would res- 
cue from destruction anything of the magnificent structure 
which he regarded with such sincere admiration, he could 
only hope to do it by a compromise ; and he accordingly in- 
troduced a motion to exclude from the Kentucky courts only 
those British decisions which have been made since the date 
of our Declaration of Independence. To the support of this 
amendment his whole exertions were directed. He showed 
clearly, and with prevailing force, that previous to this time 
both nations were one, and that a rejection of the former le- 
gal decisions of Great Britain would bo in effect the rejection 
of our own. Notwithstanding the great popularity of the 
original resolution, the arguments and eloquence of Mr. Clay 
secured for his amendment a large majority ; and thus, in 
the legal proceedings of the Kentucky courts, the great body 
of the common law still preserved its authority and supremacy. 

At the session of 1808, of which Mr. Clay continued a 
member, he was brought into collision with Mr. Humphrey 
Marshall, of whom mention has already been made in con- 
nection with the proceedings against Aaron Burr. He had 
distinguished himself by the fierceness of his attacks upon 
the Judges of the Court of Appeals, and indeed upon every 
man who was at all active in support of President Jefferson 
and the Democratic policy. Mr. Clay, of course, had not 
'< escaped his hostility. He had assailed him repeatedly in the 
newspapers of the day and came into the Legislature by a 
small majority, as a well-known and by no means contemp 
tible opponent of the Speaker of the House. It was, indeed, 
generally expected that a warfare upon Mr. Clay would be 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 41 

the chief feature of his legislative career : and, in order that 
the latter might the more freely meet him in debate, he was 
not re-elected to the office of Speaker. During the early 
part of the session occurred the first collision between them ; 
and although the issue may, perhaps, scarcely with justice 
be cited as an evidence of their respective strength in the 
Assembly, it will at least exhibit the early devotion of Mr. 
Clay to the principles of Jefferson and the unanimity with 
which he was sustained by the public sentiment of his 
now adopted State. Mr. Clay, in December, introduced 
a series of resolutions, approving the Embargo, denouncing 
the British Orders in Council, pledging the co-operation ot 
Kentucky to any measures of opposition to British exactions, 
upon which the general government might determine, and 
declaring that " Thomas Jefferson is entitled to the thanks 
of his country for the ability, uprightness and intelligence 
which he has displayed in the management both of our for- 
eign relations and domestic concerns." In opposition to these 
resolutions Mr. Marsahll introduced a series denouncing the 
embargo and in general disapproval of the administration of 
Mr. Jefferson. On taking the question these amendatory 
resolutions were rejected by a vote of sixty-four to one — Mr. 
Marshall being the only member who voted in their favor ; 
and Mr. Clay's were then adopted by the same vote. Soon 
after this Mr. Clay again encountered his enemy upon a reso- 
lution introduced by the former in behalf of Protection to Ame- 
rican Industry. He proposed that each member of the Legis- 
lature, in order to evince the sincerity of his devotion to this 
essential principle, should clothe himself wholly in garments 
of domestic manufacture. The introduction of this resolu- 
tion gave Mr. Marshall an opportunity, of which to the full 
extent he availed himself, to lavish upon its author a variety 

6 



42 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

of epithets, as personally insulting as they were grossly in 
violation of all the rules of parliamentary order and gentle- 
manly decorum. Harsh and stinging words on both sides 
followed ; and Mr. Clay, in obedience to the laws of honor 
as they were laid down in the unwritten Kentucky code, 
challenged his assailant to single combat. They met upon 
the field, fought with pistols and were each wounded, Mr. 
Clay, at the second shot, slightly in the leg. The opinions 
and conduct of Mr. Clay with regard to duelling will become, 
more fitly, a subject of consideration at another point of this 
biographical sketch. That they were at variance with each 
other no one, who knows his character and his life, need be 
told. 

One of the latest acts of general importance, performed by 
Mr. Clay while he was a member of the State Legislature, 
was his report upon a contested election, at the closing ses- 
sion of his term of State service, in 1809. At the election im 
mediately previous, the citizens of Hardin county had cast 436 
votes for Charles Helm, 350 for Samuel Haycraft, and 271 
for John Thomas. Two of these men were entitled to seats ; 
but, at the time of the election, Mr. Haycraft held the of- 
fice of Assistant Judge of the Circuit Court ; and the Consti- 
tution of the State declared, that any person holding an 
office of trust or profit under the commonwealth should' be 
ineligible to a seat in the general assembly. By an act of 
1795, this was declared applicable, under certain conditions, 
( to sheriffs and their deputies ; and another act of December 
18, 1800, required persons holding office incompatible with 
a seat in the Legislature to resign them before they were vo- 
ted for ; and provided that all votes given to any such per- 
son before such resignation, should be utterly void. Under 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 43 

these circumstances, on motion of Mr. Clay, a committee 
was appointed to inquire, first, whether Mr. Havcraft was 
entitled to his seat ; and, if not, whether Mr. Thomas was. 
Mr. Clay, of course, was appointed Chairman of the Com- 
mittee, and made a report upon the case which was unani- 
mously adopted, and has since continued to be the guiding- 
precedent in Kentucky elections. In this report he returned 
that Mr. Haycraft was clearly not entitled to his seat; and 
reversed the decision of the British House of Commons, in 
the well-known case of Mr. Wilkes, by declaring that the 
seat was vacant — since it could never be intended that the 
disqualification of one candidate, should serve instead of a 
majority of the popular votes, and thus give the election to 
a competitor. The votes could be regarded as utterly void 
only so far as the ineligible candidate for whom they were 
cast was concerned : for they were given by those who had 
a right to vote, and could not, therefore, be rejected as if 
they had never been thrown. 

Thus were closed the services of Mr. Clay in the Legisla- 
ture of his native State ; for he was now chosen to fill the 
vacancy in the United States Senate occasioned by the re- 
signation of Hon. Buckner Thurston, two years before his 
term expired. During his legislative career thus far Mr. 
Clay had recommended himself strongly to the respect and 
affection of the people of Kentucky, not le3s by the ardent 
devotion he had uniformly manifested to her true interests 
and to the best good of the country, than by the high ability 
and the splendid eloquence by which he had always enforced 
his views and given them weight with his fellow members of 
the State Legislature. He was now to enter upon a more 
exalted sphere of public service, and he carried with him th« 



44 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

entire confidence of the noble State with the care of whose 
interests he was more especially entrusted. Henceforth his 
public history becomes intertwined with that of the nation's 
glory. 

He took his seat a second time in the Senate in the winter 
of 1809-10 ; and his first speech was in farther developement 
of the principles he had before avowed, on the subject of 
American Industry ; and served indeed as the initial step 
which led to the establishment of the American System, of 
which he afterwards became the distinguished champion. 
This was the first occasion on which the policy of Protection 
had ever been distinctly advanced and directly advocated in 
our national councils. It had before been occasionally sug- 
gested in Executive Messages and other public documents, 
but was evidently regarded as too bold a measure for an in- 
fant government. Its agency in enriching, and in giving im- 
portance and security to the governments of the old world 
that had adopted it, was clearly perceived ; and few doubted 
its expediency as a fundamental condition of national pros- 
perity. But the circumstances of our advent into the family 
of nations and the comparatively slight degree of power and 
importance to which we had then attained, seemed to shut 
out all thought of placing ourselves at once upon the high 
ground of Industrial, as we had already done of Political, 
Independence, and kept us for years in point of fact, colonies 
of Great Britain. We had been accustomed to look to Eng- 
land, who realty performed the mechanic labor of nearly 
all the world, for the manufactures of which we found our- 
selves in need. We regarded her inventive and mechanical 
genius, by which she had rendered her machinery and other 
means of labor so perfect, as defying all competition and 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 45 



forbiding all hope of rivalry. We had, therefore, been con- 
tent to impose upon articles of foreign growth and manufac- 
ture only such import duties as should, in connection with 
domestic imposts, supply the small amount of revenue de- 
manded for the support of government. 

But the aspect of affairs was now becoming changed ; and 
sagacious statesmen saw at once that, in whatever security 
we might hope to repose in time of peace, the approach of 
war would at once make absolutely necessary the encourage- 
ment of our own manufacturing industry. The events of that 
day showed too that we could not hope, by any prudence of 
our own, always to escape the hazards of foreign hostilities ; 
for so long as the mutual relations of trans- Atlantic powers 
remained beyond our control, we could never be free from 
the danger of being in some way involved in their contests. 
War then with Great Britain would cut us off at once from 
all supplies from that nation, on which, with the strongest 
confidence, we were accustomed to rely ; and an absolute 
necessity was thus foreseen of building up for ourselves re- 
sources which should be beyond the influence of these foreign 
causes. In this condition of affairs a bill was pending in the 
Senate to appropriate a sum of money to procure supplies of 
cordage, sail-cloth and other munitions of war, as the aspect 
of our foreign relations was at that time far from satis- 
factory. An amendment had been proposed to the original 
bill, directing that in the purchase of specified articles pre- 
ference, as far as possible, should be given to those of Ameri- 
can growth and manufacture. This amendment had met the 
strenuous opposition of Mr. Lloyd, a Senator from Massachu- 
setts, and out of his remarks, and those which followed, grew 
a discussion of the general policy of promoting Domestic 



46 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

Manufactures by a Tariff of Protection. Mr Clay embraced 
the opportunity to declare himself the earnest, unwavering 
advocate of that policy, as the only one that could elevate 
the nation to that Independence of all Foreign powers at 
which she ought to aim. The speeches by which he main- 
tained his positions on this occasion were plain, simple state- 
ments of matters of fact, with the clearest and most evident 
deductions therefrom. They contained no efforts at eloquent 
display — but presented, directly and forcibly, his cherished 
opinions upon the general subject under debate. He thus 
admirably portrayed the feeling of servile dependence upon 
England which up to that time had seemed to mark all our 
institutions : 

" For many years after the war," said he, " such was the 
partiality for her productions, in this country, that a gentle- 
man's head could not withstand the influence of the solar 
heat, unless covered with a London hat ; his feet could not 
bear the pebbles or the frost, unless protected by London 
shoes ; and the comfort or ornament of his person was con- 
sulted only when his coat was cut out by the shears of a tai- 
lor just from London. At length, however, the wonderful 
discovery has been made, that it is not absolutely beyond 
the reach of American skill and ingenuity, to provide these 
articles, combining with equal elegance greater durability. 
And I entertain no doubt that in a short time, the no less 
important fact will be developed, that the domestic manu- 
factories of the United States, fostered by government and 
aided by household exertions, are fully competent to supply 
us with at least every necessary article of clothing. I there- 
fore, for one (to use the fashionable cant of the day,) am 
in favor of encouraging them ; not to the extent to which 



MEMOIR OF HENRY OLAY. 47 

ihey are carried in England, but to such an extent as will 
redeem us entirely from all dependence on foreign countries." 

In opposition to the arguments advanced by Mr. Clay, in 
favor of protecting and aiding manufactures at home, those 
hostile to the policy held up the wretchedness and degrada- 
tion of the poor in the principal manufacturing towns of 
Great Britain, as certain to overtake our American laborers 
if the same manufacturing policy should be adopted here 
which has confessedly done so much to elevate the British 
nation far above her less politic rivals. In reply to this Mr. 
Clay urged, as he hinted in the above extract, that we were 
not to seek to become the rival of England in manufacturing 
for all the markets of the world : he did not desire to see 
manufactures promoted to the same extent and with the 
same motives as in Great Britain. But he maintained that 
we ought to produce for ourselves the articles that we need 
for our own consumption, and thus render ourselves wholly 
independent of foreign nations. Then, if war should over- 
take us, or if foreign powers should refuse to give us their 
products on terms of fair and mutual reciprocity, we could 
close our ports and throw ourselves upon our own resources, 
which would thus easily be made sufficient for all our wants. 
" A judicious American farmer," said Mr. Clay, " in the 
household way, manufactures whatever is requisite in his 
family. He squanders but little in the gewgaws of Europe. 
He presents in epitome, what the nation ought to be in ex- 
tenso. Their manufactures ought to be in the same propor- 
tion, and effect the same object in relation to the whole com- 
munity, which the part of his household employed in do- 
mestic manufacturing, bears to the whole family." Thus 
eloquently defending the general Principle of Protection, 



48 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

Mr. Clay demonstrated, if possible, still more clearly the ex- 
pediency of adopting 1 the measures proposed in the specific 
amendment under debate : that we should go to the territory 
of a nation with whom we expected soon to be at war to procure 
of her munitions for the contest, seemed too palpably absurd 
to need any extended argument. The amendment was car- 
ried by a decided majority, and, under its effect, highly ad- 
vantageous contracts were made, for the various articles need- 
ed, with capitalists of the United States ; an impetus was 
also given to the cause of Home Industry which ultimately 
led to still more important legislation. 

During the same Congressional session occurred the debate 
on the conduct of President Madison in taking possession of 
the disputed territory of West Florida — extending from the 
river Perdido on the East to the Mississippi on the West. 
The causes which led to this summary act were such as made 
it a matter of necessity. The original dispute as to jurisdic- 
tion was between France and Spain, from the former of whom 
the United States had purchased the territory in 1803. Spain, 
however, claimed to own it and exercised jurisdiction over 
it. The inhabitants of the western portion revolted, and 
were said to have evinced a willingness to listen to British 
emissaries, who had been sent among them ; and thus to 
grant a rival power a strong foothold upon our Southern bor- 
der The Proclamation of the President annexed the terri- 
tory to the United States ; and for this act he was attacked 
with great violence and force of argument, by the Federal 
party in Congress, Mr. Horsey, of Delaware, being at their 
head in the Senate. His speech was able and impressive; 
but it was most triumphantly answered by Mr. Clay on the 
25th of December. His argument upon this occasion was 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 49 

mainly historical and extremely close :— he did not deviate 
at all from the main point at issue, though he dashed aside 
the extraneous considerations by which the members of the 
opposition sought to prevent an approval of the Proclama- 
tion. Both as one of the earliest, and one of the best, speci- 
mens of his argumentative eloquence, aside from its intrinsic 
worth, this speech of Mr. Clay is eminently deserving an at- 
tentive perusal. It had great weight when pronounced in the 
Senate, gaining the support of many of those who had previ- 
ously been among the warmest opponents of the measure he 
had vindicated, and securing, by a handsome majority, the 
approval of this timely Proclamation of the President. 

Though the part he took in the debate upon this question 
has most general interest, still the other legislative labors of 
Mr. Clay at this session were both arduous and important. 
He mingled in nearly all its discussions, and, as a member 
of several of the most important committees of the Senate 
performed an amount of labor rarely surpassed by any mem- 
ber of any legislative body. In March he reported, for the 
committee to whom the subject was referred, a bill granting 
right of pre-emption under certain conditions to purchasers 
of western public lands — which was adopted by the Senate ; 
and soon after procured the passage of an act more effectually 
to regulate trade and commerce with the Indian tribes and 
to preserve peace on the frontier. In the latter part of April, 
being greatly exhausted by the fatigues and labors of Sena- 
torial service, he obtained leave of absence for the remainder 
of the session. 

The principal topic of the next session, in the winter of 
«dttNfc»5 was that of the re-charter of a Bank of the United 

7 



60 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

States. The Legislature of Kentucky had instructed him to 
oppose the bill, and his own opinions led him in the same 
direction. A strong- prejudice against the Bank was abroad 
in the public mind, and many considerations gave to it the 
weight of well-founded conviction. The mere fact that the 
measure had its origin with the Federal party, was sufficient, 
in the minds of many friends of the existing administration, 
to secure their opposition. President Madison was at that 
time known to be opposed to it on constitutional grounds ; 
though Mr. W. H. Crawford, a leading member of the Dem- 
ocratic party, with several of his prominent friends, strenu- 
ously advocated the re-charter. But the fact which, perhaps, 
gave most weight to the opposition was that, at that time by 
far the largest portion of the stock of the United States Bank 
was owned by, and under the control of, foreign capitalists, 
mostly inhabitants of Great Britain ; and the evident facility 
with which, in case of national difference with that power, 
the influence thus placed in their hands might be employed to 
our serious injury, awakened the fears and secured the hos- 
tility of many who doubted not the power of Congress, under 
the constitution, to create such a corporation. At that time, 
too, the company of stockholders was under much less re- 
straint, and had a far more absolute control over the Bank, 
than was afterwards entrusted to its care. That these con- 
siderations had no little influence with Mr. Clay we learn* 
from his speech in opposition to the Bank delivered at this 
session. To these views he always adhered ; and in the 
charters to which he subsequently gave his support these 
features, so objectionable in this, were essentially modified. 
But he had at that time a still more vital objection to grant- 
ing a charter for any National Bank ; and the development 
of this constituted, in fact, the main portion of his very able 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 51 

and eloquent argument on that occasion. He contended that 
the power to charter companies was not specifically given in 
the constitution, and furthermore, that it was of a nature which 
forbid its transfer by implication. The extended inteiests it 
embraced, and the vast compass of the power itself, were the 
chief points upon which he dwelt, in maintenance pf his 
position. He unquestionably made one of the strongest argu- 
ments ever advanced against a National Bank ; and the fact 
that his opinions, at that early day, are cited, at the present, 
by the opponents of such an institution, as the firmest basis of 
their opposition, conveys no slight tribute to his logical power 
and intellectual ability. He lived himself, however, to see 
the weakness of his arguments and the falsity of the conclu- 
sion to which they led him. The grounds upon which he 
was induced to change his opinions upon this subject will 
become the topic of remark in another and more appropriate 
place. His efforts in the Senate, however, were successful 
against the combined forces of the federalists and a strong 
portion of the demociatic party. The bank charter at that 
time was not renewed. 

At the expiration of his brief Senatorial term, Mr. Clay 
returned to Kentucky. But the reputation he had already 
acquired, as an active, eloquent and influential member of 
the national legislature, secured his speedy return to its halls ; 
and at the opening of the special session of Congress, on the 
4th of November, 1811, he took his seat as a member of the 
House of Representatives, and upon that very day, the first 
of his appearance upon the floor, he was elected Speaker of 
the House, receiving 75 out of the 128 votes cast — Hon. 
George W. Bibb, of Georgia, being his opponent. He ac- 
cepted the responsible office, in a brief but neat and perti- 



52 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 



ncnt speech. This, we believe, is the only instance on re- 
cord in which the confidence of Congress has been yielded, 
in so marked a manner, to any person at his first entrance 
as a member. The distinguished ability with which Mr. 
Clay had discharged the duties of a similar office in the Le- 
gislature of Kentucky, added to his wide and most honorable 
reputation as a rising statesman of surpassing talents and re- 
markable energy of character, won for him, thus early, this 
high distinction. 

The condition of the country, which had rendered neces- 
sary this early convention of Congress, was highly critical. 
Hopes had been entertained, at the close of the preceding 
session, that the British government would repeal her Orders 
in Council, since the causes which first led to their promul- 
gation had been deprived of their original force by the for- 
mal revocation of the edicts of France. But instead of this, 
they were put into a still more vigorous execution, under the 
pretence that the Berlin and Milan decrees had not been 
effectually repealed; and, although Great Britain, through 
her minister, Mr. Foster, in his official correspondence with 
Secretary Monroe, expressly admitted, that no blockade 
could be binding which was not supported by an adequate 
force, she still demanded of the United States a rigid observ- 
ance of her orders closing the ports of France, from the Elbe 
to Br&st, against vessels that did not carry on their trade 
through Great Britain, while there was no pretence that, at 
any time, there had been on the French coast a force suffi- 
cient to enforce the prohibition. England was thus aiming a 
deadly blow at the commerce of the United States, a neutral 
nation, merely to obtain revenge for an empty threat thrown 
out bv France in her Berlin and Milan decrees. Our vessel* 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 53 

were constantly seized upon the ocean, on suspicion of an 
intention to violate this paper blockade : they were pursued 
to the very mouths of our harbors ; and upon a recent occa- 
casion, that of the President and Little Belt, an American 
frigate had been fired upon, wantonly and without provoca- 
tion, by a British cruiser. Added to this cause of just com- 
plaint was the impressment of American Seamen upon sus- 
picion that they were British subjects. The right to search 
our ships had been officially asserted and repeatedly exer- 
cised ; and under protection of this unfounded claim, our 
brave countrymen had been forced into the service of their 
enemies, and, at the date of which we write, more than seven 
thousand men were thus held in captivity. The attempted 
negotiations upon these questions, and others of minor but 
stil formidable importance, at issue between the two nations, 
had failed of success ; and Congress was now convened to 
devise measures, either to avert the impending danger, or to 
provide for vigorous and manly resistance to these repeated 
and outrageous aggressions. 

The message of President Madison briefly recapitulated 
Khe causes of complaint against Great Britain, and urged an 
immediate and effectual vindication of our national honor. 
It recommended the increase of the Army and the Navy, 
an adequate provision of cannon and other munitions of war, 
the encouragement of our home manufactures, as at all times 
of great and manifest, but then of more urgent, importance, 
and a general preparation for war with Great Britain. The 
receipts of the Treasury for the year had been above thirteen 
and a half millions, sufficient to defray the current expenses, 
to pay the interest on the public debt and to discharge more 
than five millions of the principal. 



54 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

The message of the President was referred to a Select Com 
mittee of which, with high sagacity and patriotism, Mr. Clay 
had appointed Hon. Peter B. Porter, an able and zealous 
Republican from New York, the Chairman, and had associa- 
ted with him a majority whose political feelings accorded 
with his own. The report of the Committee was presented 
in the House on the 29th of November. It was brief but most 
eloquent and patriotic in its tone. It began by a recapitula- 
tion of the wrongs which had been committed against us, by 
the two leading powers of Europe, and by a glance at the 
condition into which they had brought all the great interest! 
of the nation. France, for more than five years, in execu- 
tion of her oppressive Berlin and Milan decrees, had seized 
the property of our citizens, and carried derangement and 
ruin into our commerce upon the high seas, in the endeavoi 
to cripple the ocean prosperity and power of her British foe. 
Great Britain, by her Orders in Council, having for their pro- 
fessed purpose retaliation for the injuries she had sus- 
tained from France, had laid waste the remaining half of our 
foreign trade. Thus menaced on both sides, after all 
appeals to the magnanimity and justice of these two great 
powers had been made in vain, the United States, in self- 
defence, in May, 1810, had adopted the non-importation law, 
at the same time offering important commercial advantages 
to that nation which should first revoke her hostile edicts. 
France soon accepted the proffered terms and repealed her 
injurious decrees. But Great Britain refused to fulfil hei 
promise and proceed pari passu with her foe in the restora 
tion of amity with a neutral nation, until the whole French 
system of commercial warfare, adopted in connection with 
her continental allies, and of which the late decrees formed o 
part, should be abandoned : thus in effect demanding, that, 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 



55 



as a condition of peace with us, we should compel France 
and the continental powers in league with her, to receive 
British goods and British produce. These arrogant preten- 
sions had been followed up by a desolating war upon our 
commerce, and by seizing, condemning, and confiscating our 
ships at the very mouths of our harbors. After a slight allu- 
sion to the continued impressment of American seamen, the 
Committee reported this eloquent and stirring passage : 

" To wrongs so daring in character, and so disgraceful in 
execution, it is impossible that the people of the United States 
should remain indifferent. We must now tamely and quietly 
submit, or we must resist by those means which God has 
placed within our reach. Your committee would not cast a 
slander over the American name, by the expression of a doubt 
which branch of this alternative will be embraced. The oc- 
casion is now presented when the national character, misrep- 
resented and traduced for a time, by foreign and domestic 
enemies, should be vindicated. 

" If we have not rushed to a field of battle like the nations 
who are led by the mad ambition of a single chief or the ava- 
rice of a corrupted court, it has not proceeded from a fear of 
war, but from our love of justice and humanity. That proud 
spirit of liberty and independence which sustained our fathers 
in the successful assertion of their rights against foreign ag- 
gression, is not yet sunk. The patriotic fire of the Revolu- 
tion still burns in the American breast with a holy and inex- 
tinguishable flame and will conduct this nation to those high 
destinies which are not less the reward of dignified modera- 
tion than of exalted valor. 



56 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

" But we have borne with injury until forbearance has 
ceased to be a virtue. The sovereignty and independence 
of these States, purchased and sanctified by the blood of our 
fathers, from whom we received them, not for ourselves only, 
but as the inheritance of our posterity, are deliberately and 
systematically violated. And the period has arrived when, 
in the opinion of your Committee, it is the sacred duty of 
Congress to call forth the patriotism and resources of the 
country. By the aid of these and with the blessing of God, 
we confidently trust we shall be enabled to procure that re- 
dress which has been sought for by justice, by remonstrance,, 
and forbearance in vain." 

The Report concluded with a resolution providing for the 
immediate and adequate increase of the military force of 
the United States. 

By the great majority of the people, this Report was re- 
ceived with loud rejoicings. It expressed, forcibly, their long 
cherished resentments, and embodied, in definite form, the 
preparations for redress which they had long desired to wit- 
ness. The doctrines of that report were thoroughly and em- 
phatically those of Mr. Clay. It was through their influence 
that he had been led to appoint upon the committee, a ma- 
jority of members known to be strongly in favor of War with 
England, as the only alternative that remained to us, if we 
cared to preserve our national honor ; and the reception it 
^met from the people, amply justified the bold confidence 
he had reposed in their patriotic and self-denying virtue. 
But there was not the same unanimity in Congress, nor indeed 
among the active politicians throughout the country, in favor 
of the hostile policy recommended by the President. The 



MEMOIR Or HENRY CLAY. JT7 

difference of opinion on the subject seemed to arise, rather 
from the influence of previous occurrences in our foreign re- 
lations, than from any serious doubt concerning their existing 
aspect. The difficulties with France, sustained as that na- 
tion had been by a strong party in our own country, had 
aroused a feeling of ardent admiration of her haughty foe , 
and had given birth to a sentiment, — by no means co-exten 
sive with that of disgust at the excessive adulation which had 
been ready to offer, in sacrifice, national honor and indepen- 
dence, to the bare name of the French Republic, — of unrea- 
sonable reverence and awe-struck wonder at the power and 
greatness of the British monarchy. In Congress, and espe - 
cially in its lower branch, this feeling was entertained by a 
body of men, not formidable in numbers, but strong in talent 
and resolute determination. Added to this was a firm belief 
that the country was not in a situation to carry on successful 
war with a nation so powerful and so unyielding as England. 
The Army was small and indifferently supplied ; the Navy 
was depressed ; the Treasury empty ; a considerable debt on 
hand, and the general resources of the nation undeveloped 
and unavailable in an offensive warfare. These circumstan- 
ces had weight with many men of sound judgment and of an 
undoubted attachment to the institutions of their country, 
which shone forth with even increased brightness from 
their unwillingness to subject their stability to the peril of a 
long contest with the mightiest nation on the globe. In op- 
position to these men the Republican party, as it was called, 
had champions of overwhelming strength, and the decided 
advantage in point of justice, as of numbers. At their head 
stood Mr. Clay, equal to the noblest, in the sincerity of his 
patriotic devotion to his country's good, and their decided 
superior in commanding talent and in the boldness and vigor 

8 



58 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

of his projected plans. On the 6th of December the report 
was taken up in Committee of the Whole. Its positions and 
recommendations were vindicated by Mr. Porter in a brief 
and lucid argument, and the reported resolutions were adop- 
ted. For several days they were then discussed in the House, 
by the ablest members of both parties. Mr. Clay being in 
the Chair, had no opportunity to speak upon them. The 
debate was conducted with great spirit and ability, and the 
general tone of remark, from both parties, was in favor of 
unbending opposition to the encroachments of Great Britain. 
There were some, however, who were decidedly averse to 
extreme measures, thinking that farther negotiation might 
produce results which years of ardent and unremitted expos- 
tulation had failed to effect. The strongest of these in de- 
bate was unquestionably Mr. Randolph, of Virginia ; and his 
power lay rather in the fierceness of his personal invective, 
which he lavished, with an unsparing hand, on all who up- 
held measures he deemed unwise, and in the splendid elo- 
quence with which he surrounded every subject on which he 
spoke, than in any clearness of logical reasoning or any ef- 
fective appeal to the sympathies and the passion of his hear- 
ers. In [his remarks upon the resolutions reported by the 
Committee on Foreign Relations, he had menaced the advo 
cates of war with the loss of their political power, and exal- 
ted the power of England, as far too great to assail and defy, 
with hopes of success. He protested, with great violence, 
against the censure bestowed upon those suspected of attach- 
ment to the institutions of Great Britain, and vindicated her 
hostility to France as a contest against Bonaparte — " a tyrant 
who ground down men to a mere machine of his impious and 
bloody ambition." He and his colleagues were opposed, oa 
the question of war, by able men of the Republican party— 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 59 

by Porter, Cheves, Grundy, and others ; and at the close 
of the debate the resolutions were successively adopted by 
large majorities. 

The subject was then sent to the Senate, and a bill wa3 
soon returned and reported to the Committee of the Whole, 
to raise a military force of twenty-five thousand men, in ad- 
dition to the six thousand already voted. Mr. Clay had now 
an opportunity to speak upon this specific recommendation 
of the bill as well as upon the general question, of the policy 
of declaring war against Great Britain. His remarks were 
calm though spirited — presenting a clear and conclusive ar- 
gument in opposition to the declamation by which the 
course of the President had been assailed. The various ob- 
jections, which the timid advocates of a peaceful policy had 
urged, to the enlistment of an army, were met by clear 
statements and by demonstration to which assent could not be 
refused ; and the patriotism of the House was most eloquently 
invoked in aid of the country at that trying crisis of our nation- 
al affairs. Several unessential amendments were afterwards 
proposed, only one or two of which were adopted, and the 
bill finally passed its third reading by a vote of 94 to 34; giv- 
ing a much greater majority in its favor than its most sanguine 
friends, previous to the speech of Mr. Clay, had dared to 
hope. 

The action of Congress met the cordial approval of nearly 
all the State Legislatures ; and, at an early day, Kentucky 
arrayed herself by the side of those who pledged their whole 
resources, in aid of the general government, in opposition to 
the unjust oppression of Great Britain. This course is the 
more honorable to her stern and high patriotism, from the 



60 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

fact, that, being an inland State, she suffered no direct and 
immediate injury from the aggressions upon our commerce 
and the impressment of our seamen, which were the most 
serious causes of complaint against the British government. 
On the 16th of December a series of resolutions was adopted 
by the Legislature, presenting, in a rapid sketch, a view of 
the wrongs we had sustained, declaring that, " should we 
tamely submit, the world ought to despise us — we should de- 
spise ourselves — England herself would despise us ;" and 
that, " when she should learn to respect our rights, we shall 
hasten to forget her injuries ;" and resolving, that, " as war 
seems probable, so far as we have any existing evidence of a 
sense of justice on the part of the government of Great Bri- 
tain, the State of Kentucky, to the last mite of her strength 
and resources, will contribute them to maintain the contest 
and support the right of their country against such lawless 
violations ; and that the citizens of Kentucky are prepared to 
take the field when called on." Thus nobly was Mr. Clay 
sustained in the decided stand he had taken, by the Legisla- 
ture of his own confiding State. 

Soon after the adoption of this measure, the other recom- 
mendations of the President were acted upon ; and a bill was 
reported to the House, in Committee of the Whole, by the 
Committee of Foreign Relations, through Mr. Cheves, theii 
chairman. The portions which made large appropriations foi 
repairing the vessels on hand, were passed by large majori- 
ties, with but little debate. The section of the bill which 
provided for building a number of new frigates, gave rise tc 
extended and animated discussion. Mr. Cheves moved to fill 
the blank with ten ; and on the motion of Mr. Rhea, of Ten 
tteseee, to strike mat the section altogether, ires renewed tLl2 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 



61 



debate on the general policy of the war with Great Britain. 
The motion of Mr. Rhea was supported by himself, by Mr. 
Blackledge, of N. C, Mr. Boyd, of N. J., and Mr. Smilie, 
of Pa. ; and opposed, in extended and masterly arguments, 
by the Chairman of >he Committee on Foreign Relations, Mr. 
Cheves, Mr. Clay, and several other able members — the dis- 
cussion extending through many days. The argument of 
Mr. Clay, though it glances at the general grounds for war, 
is directed principally to a vindication of the Navy from the 
suspicious jealousy to which it is often subject ; and aims to 
show that the whole Western section of the country is as im- 
mediately benefited by the creation and maintenance of a na- 
val force as are the Atlantic States. It is a proud proof of that 
noble love for the whole Union, in distinction from sectional 
and local attachments, which has always distinguished his 
public acts. On taking the question, on the 22d of January, 
the motion to strike out the section was lost, by a majority 
of five ; but the next day a motion to re-consider prevailed, 
and the section was exscinded. In the House, when the bill 
was reported from the Committee of the Whole, the question 
of agreeing with the Committee, to strike out this section for 
building additional frigates, was discussed on the 24th and 
subsequent days ; on the 27th the vote was taken and the 
agreement was carried ; 62 ayes to 59 nays. So this part of 
the bill failed of success ; but the remainder was carried into 
effect with so much energy, and the naval operations were 
conducted with so much vigor and military skill, that, upon 
the ocean, our gallant force performed exploits which., by 
their brilliant daring and splendid success, amazed the old 
world and exalted the new. Throughout the whole struggle 
Mr. Clay proved himself the ardent and liberal friend of the 
Navy. He appreciated its importance in national tbience, 



62 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

and constantly advocated its increased power and efficiency. 
In the debates that followed, which were usually of but 
minor importance, — the general policy of the government, 
in regard to her foreign relations, having already been marked 
out and the chief military measures decided upon, — though 
prevented by his official station from any general participa- 
tion, Mr. Clay gave to the administration of President 
Madison his most earnest support. He was thoroughly iden- 
tified with the Republican party, and it was to his inspiring 
words, in no slight degree, that the nation was indebted for 
the bolduess and courage with which she entered upon the 
war. 

Previous to the actual commencement of hostilities, the 
attention of Congress was occupied by various questions of 
interest and importance. The papers transmitted to Congress 
by the President, on the 9th of March, developing an attempt 
on the part of the British government, through a Mr. Henry, 
as secret agent, to sound the party opposed to the war, with 
intent to divide the Union, and secure the Northern section 
as an ally of Great Britain, awakened the deepest indignation 
of the whole country, and tended to arouse a bitter hostility 
against that party, though the name of not a single American 
was mentioned in connection with the treasonable intrigues 
which were thus exposed. They had a better effect, in ex- 
hibiting to our citizens the unscrupulous fidelity with which 
their ancient enemy adhered to the unprincipled maxim^ 
that " the means were justified by the end ;" and led them to 
regard, with far more suspicion, the professions of friendship 
under which she was continually seeking to cripple our grow- 
ing power and undermine our prosperity. In connection with 
other occurrences, their influence was to ripen the sentiment 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 63 

of the American people for war. Still there was a feeling 
throughout the country, which was sedulously fostered by 
the leading men of the federal party, that the administration 
had threatened hostility with but slight intention of actually 
prosecuting it : a long time had now elapsed since the con- 
duct of Great Britain had been subject of complaint, and as 
yet no effectual measures of lesistance had been adopted. 
The commerce of the nation continued, therefore, to be 
nearly as extended as before, and there was at this time afloat 
upon the ocean an immense amount of American property, 
which, in the event of war, would be lost to ourselves and 
fall into the hands of our enemy. On the 1st of April, 1812, 
therefore, the President sent a message to Congress, recom- 
mending the " immediate passage of an embargo on all ves- 
sels then in port or hereafter arriving, for a period of sixty 
days." The message was immediately referred to the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations and a bill reported by Mr. Por- 
ter was referred to the Committee of the Whole. 

The debate which ensued was of intense and exciting in- 
terest. Mr. Clay was one of the first to express his warmest 
satisfaction at the proposal of this measure. " I approve of 
it," said he, " because it is to be viewed as a direct precur- 
sor to war." He sketched, in vivid outline, the injuries and 
wrongs we had sustained from Great Britain, and said he 
pitied that man, for his sense of honor, who would not repel 
them by open and avowed hostility. He was not at all alarm- 
ed at the want, of preparation, of which so much was said by 
gentlemen on the other side : there was no terror in the war, 
he said, except what arose from its novelty. " As an Ameri- 
can and a member of that House he felt proud that the ex- 
ecutive had recommended the measure." 



64 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLATf. 

Mr. Randolph opposed the embargo with all his wonder- 
ful power, and declared that it was not to be regarded as an 
initial step to war — but as a subterfuge — a retreat from bat- 
tle. " Sir," said he, "we are now in secret conclave : the 
eyes of the surrounding world are not upon us ; but the eyes 
of God behold our doings. He knows the spirit of our minds. 
Shall we deliberate upon this subject with the spirit of so- 
briety and candor, or with that spirit which has too often 
characterised our discussions like the present ?" " We ought 
to realize," he said, "that we are in the presence of that 
God who knows our thoughts and motives, and to whom we 
must render an account for the deeds done in the body." 
He treated the proposed declaration of war as too absurd a 
measure to be entertained for a moment. " What new cause 
of war," he asked, " or of an embargo has arisen within the 
last twelve months ? The affair of the Chesapeake is settled : 
no new principles of blockade have been interpolated in 
the laws of nations. Every man of candor would ask why 
we did not, then, go to war twelve months ago." 

Mr. Clay, in reply, uttered words burning with patriotic 
■zeal and concern for the honor of his country. « The gen- 
tleman from Virginia," he said, " need not have reminded 
them, in the manner he had, of that Being who watched 
over and surrounded them. From this sentiment we should 
draw very different conclusions from those which occurred to 
him. It ought to influence them to that patriotism and to a 
display of those high qualifications so much more honorable 
to the human character." " And now," said he, " the gen- 
tleman asks, whatweu' cause of war has been avowed 1 The 
affair of the Chesapeake is settled, to be sure, but only to 
paralyze the spirit of the country. Has Great Britain abstain- 



MKMOIR OV HENRY CLAY. 66 

etl from impressing our seamen — from depredating upon our 
property 1 We have complete proof, in her capture of our 
ships, in her exciting our frontier Indians to hostility, and in 
her sending an emissary to our cities to excite civil war, that 
she will do everything to destroy us : our resolution and spirit 
are our only dependence. Although I feel warm upon this 
subject," said he, u I pride myself upon those feelings, and 
should despise myself if I were destitute of them.' , 

The debate was continued at considerable length. Mr. 
Randolph repeated his opposition to the war and to the em- 
bargo, and declared that he had " known gentlemen not in- 
ferior, in gallantry, in wisdom, in experience, in the talents 
of a statesman, to any upon the floor, consigned to oblivion, 
for advocating a war upon the public sentiment." Mr. Clay 
pointed him to the glowing and patriotic resolutions of four- 
teen State Legislatures, for the indications of public senti- 
ment, and said that there were no divisions in the Southern 
and Western States ; Federalists and Republicans were uni- 
ted for war. Hon. Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, opposed 
the embargo, with all the eloquence and ability of which he 
was confessedly master. He treated it as an act of treason 
to the interests of the country, and its enactment as an out- 
rage upon common sense. He avowed that he, with some 
of his colleagues, had sent expresses to the Eastern cities, 
announcing the undoubted establishment of an embargo, that 
merchants there might sail their ships before it should go 
into force. " We did it," said he, " to escape into the jaws 
of the British lion and of the French tiger — which are places 
of repose, of joy amd delight, when compared with the grasp 
and fang of this hyena embargo." Mr. Clay, and his fel- 
loe republicans, replied to all this wrathful declamation by 

9 



66 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

spirited appeals to the sense of honor, which should alwaj 
arouse to arms in revenge for national insult ; and gave clear 
detailed statements of the leal strength and resources of the 
country. The bill was read twice the day it was reported : 
a motion made by Mr. Boyd, of N. J., to amend by establish- 
ing the embargo for 120 days, instead of 60, was lost, by a 
vote of two to one ; and the bill, on the 3d, was finally pass- 
ed, by the decisive vote of 70 to 41. The bill was then sent 
to the Senate, where it was amended by substituting ninety 
days, instead of sixty, as the term for which the embargo 
should be continued. Thus amended it became a law, by the 
concurrence of the House and the signature of the President, 
which it received on the 4th of April. 

Thus was taken by the nation the first preliminary step to 
a declaration of war with Great Britain. It was received 
with general favor by the people, although in different sec- 
tions of the Union it was opposed from the same motives 
which had prompted hostility to its enactment. The atten- 
tion of Congress was now engaged in making effective prepa- 
ration for the contest, which was clearly inevitable. To the 
minds of the people and of the republican members of the 
House, there seemed to be an unreasonable delay in bringing 
matters to a crisis. It was feared that the temporizing policy 
which had been, to too great an extent, pursued, would re- 
press the spirit of hostility and relax the energies of the coun- 
try, in the prosecution of a war, which, it was evident, could 
not with honor be avoided. Negotiations were still carried 
on with Mr. Foster, the acting British minister, and at vari- 
ous times he held out hopes that, an amicable adjusfUient of 
existing difficulties might be effected. But it was, thi oughoutj 
evident, that no concession was purposed ; and it vr&sreso'? 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 67 

ed that a deputation of members should, in a conference with 
President Madison, urge upon him the necessity of more ac- 
tive and vigorous preparation, and of a speedy declaration of 
hostilities. Mr. Clay, at this formal meeting, explained to 
the President the feelings of Congress and of the People on 
the subject of war with Great Britain, urged the futility of 
seeking for a peaceful adjustment, and insisted upon cutting 
short the argument with her minister, which had long since 
been exhausted, and appealing to arms and to the God of 
battles for the vindication of our rights. The same policy 
was urged by Mr. Clay in all his remarks, both in and out 
of Congress : and in his appointment of Committees and in 
the general discharge of his official duties his efforts were 
constantly directed to the same object. The President him- 
self, though thoroughly impressed with the conviction that 
war was inevitable, manifested extreme caution, and even 
timidity in entering upon it : and a portion of his cabinet, 
especially the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Gallatin, 
were strenously opposed to a hostile policy. On the 1st of 
June, however, President Madison transmitted to the House 
a Message, in which the outrages perpetrated by Great Brit- 
ain against the United States, were summed up in a clear, 
forcible and eloquent sketch : the efforts we had made to ob- 
tain redress, with their fruitless results, were detailed, and 
the message recommended, to the early consideration of 
Congress, the question whether the United States should 
11 continue passive under these progressive usurpations and 
these accumulating wrongs, or, opposing force to force in de- 
fence of their natural rights, should commit a just cause into 
the hands of the Almighty Disposer of events.' 1 On the 
18th the Committee of Foreign Relations, to which the Mes- 
sage was referred, made a long report in vindication of their 



68 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

recommendation of an "immediate appeal to Arms," on 
the same day the act of declaration passed both houses of 
Congress and became a law, and on the 19th the Proclama- 
tion of War was issued by the President. 

During the last few days of the debate, Mr. Clay became 
involved in a personal difficulty with Mr. Randolph of Va., 
which, as well for the evidence it furnishes of the strict and 
dignified maintenance of the rules of the House under the 
speakership of Mr. Clay, as for subsequent occurrences, may 
be a proper subject of allusion. On the Friday previous to 
the Monday set down for the intended declaration of war, Mr. 
Randolph rose to address the House. Although perfectly 
aware that, for obvious reasons, the whole discussion was in- 
tended to be secret, he had no scruple in proceeding to debate 
it in public, and for some time went on in his speech, violently 
opposing the intended hostility and vindicating Great Britain 
from the accusation of having unjustly wronged the United 
States ; founding his strictures upon vague rumors of intended 
action, which had reached his ears, and upon a casual re- 
mark which he overheard, made by Mr. Clay to a third mem- 
oer of Congress, in private conversation. For some time he 
proceeded without interruption, until, at length, he was call- 
ed to order by Mr. Calhoun, on the ground that his remarks 
were irrelevant — no motion being before the House. Mr. 
Bibb, who was temporarily in the chair, allowed him to pro- 
ceed. He began by thanking Mr. Calhoun for the respite 
he had given him, and was about to launch again into his 
argument, when Mr. Calhoun said he would again gratify 
him by an opportunity to rest himself, and again called him 
to order. Mr. Clay having resumed the chair, decided that 
he must reduce his intended motion to writing and pass it to 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 69 

the chair, and that it must also receive a second. Mr. Ran- 
dolph appealed from the decision, which was sustained by a 
vote of 67 to 42. " Then, sir," said Mr. R., "under the 
compulsion to submit my motion in writing - , I offer it." Mr. 
Clay replied that he "could do as he chose about it — there 
was no compulsion in the case." The resolution was then 
read, declaring that, u under existing circumstances, it is in- 
expedient to resort to war with Great Britain." The Speaker 
decided that this could not be debated without the permis- 
sion of the House. Mr. Randolph appealed, but at the sug- 
gestion of Mr. Macon j withdrew his appeal. The House 
then voted not to receive the resolution ; 72 to 37. Mr. 
Randolph upon this published an inflammatory appeal to his 
constituents, from the tyranny which he alleged was threat- 
ening to destroy all freedom of debate, and addressed them 
on the general policy of the administration in a very violent 
and declamatory style. He treated the question of war as 
one which a few politicians in Congress were seeking to de- 
cide, merely with a view to the preservation of their own con- 
sistency, and without any reference to the welfare of the 
country ; and besought those to whom he wrote not to sanc- 
tion the attempted declaration. His principal complaint, 
however, was the decision of Mr. Clay, which had forbidden 
his discussion of the question. To this communication Mr. 
Clay replied, in a card to the editor of the National Intel- 
ligencer ; ably vindicating the decision, and explaining 
that it settled these two principles : " that the House 3iad a 
right to know, through its organ, the specific motion which 
a member intends making, before he undertakes to argue it 
at large, and that it reserves to itself the exercise of the power 
of determining whether it will consider it, at the particular 
time when offered, prior to his thus proceeding to argue it." 



70 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

Mr. Clay took no notice of the declamatory portion of Mr. 
Randolph's letter, but confined himself to a complete refuta- 
tion of his argument against the propriety of the decision he 
had made. It was regarded as completely satisfactory; and 
the principles thus established have since been uniformly 
recognized and enforced in the Congressional debates. 

We ware now fairly engaged in a war with Great Britain. 
How anxiously our government had sought to avoid it, may 
be gathered from the international correspondence which pre- 
ceded its declaration, and is still further evinced by that 
which immediately followed it. On the 20th of June, only a 
week after the Proclamation was issued, the Secretary of 
State authorized our Charge des Affaires in Great Britain, Mr. 
Jonathan Russell, to agree to an armistice, for the nego- 
tiation of a treaty ; at first, on condition that the British Or- 
ders in Council should be repealed, and that the impress- 
ment of seamen from our vessels should be discontinued ; and, 
afterwards, without any stipulations whatever. These peace- 
ful overtures were haughtily rejected, and the ministry re- 
fused to treat with us at all, unless we would recall our let- 
ters of marque and reprisal, and cease all acts of hostility 
against British subjects and British property. These attempts 
on the part of our government to procure a friendly settle- 
ment of our complaints were continued until the middle of 
September. At an interview held on the 17th of that month, 
Lord Castlereagh spoke, with manifest impatience, of the 
continued hopes that were entertained by American Commis- 
sioners that the right of impressment would ever be relinquish- 
ed ; he had the assurance to say that " our friends in Congress 
had been so confident in that mistake that they had ascribed 
the failure of such an arrangement solely to the misconduct 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 71 

of the American government." All the propositions of Mr. 
Russell, which were extremely temperate and liberal, were 
treated in such a manner as to forbid any hope of amicable ad- 
justment. The British went so far in their insolent demands 
as to ask of our minister, if the " United States would deliver 
up the native British seamen who might be naturalized in 
America ;" and Lord Castlereagh said, tauntingly and lofti- 
ly, that " if the American government was so anxious to get 
rid of the war, it would have an opportunity of doing so on 
learning the revocation of the Orders in Council." 

After this contemptuous rejection of their offers of peace, 
nothing, of course, remained to the United States, but to 
prosecute the war, by sea and by land, with the utmost pos- 
sible vigor. Sad reverses had already overtaken our arms in 
several engagements, and the surrender of a large force 
with the important post of Detroit, by General Hull, under 
circumstances which made it almost certain that he had been 
purchased by the British, had fired with indignation a large 
portion of our people, though it had dispirited the rest and 
rendered them almost hopeless as to the issue. Strong forces 
of volunteer troops had been embodied in the states of Ken- 
tucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — and a large portion 
of them had been placed under the command of Brigadier 
General Harrison, an officer of the highest gallantry and 
skill, destined to operate in the Michigan territory, to relieve 
an important post and to protect the frontier against the hos- 
tility of the Savages, whose alliance the British, with a bar- 
barity seldom equaled in the warfare of civilized nations, 
had not scrupled to secure. Our troops, under Gen. Van 
Rensselaer had been repulsed, with disastrous loss, in an 
atvv* on one of the enemy's posts near Niagara. Our plans 



72 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

of invading Canada from its western frontier, upon the suc- 
cess of which the hope of ultimate victory had been mainly . 
built, were thus entirely frustrated ; and it became neces- 
sary to direct our efforts to some other quarter. An unex- 
pected difficulty had also arisen from the refusal of the Gov- 
ernors of some of the States to furnish the required detach- 
ments of militia for the defence of the maritime frontier. 
The establishment of the principle on which this refusal was 
founded, would seem to weaken the power of the nation to 
a most alarming degree ; and there was, at the time, too 
much reason to fear that the contest, under these circum- 
stances, could not but result in the defeat of the American 
armies and the disgrace of our arms. But the exploits of oui 
gallant privateers, and of our ships upon the ocean, had been 
as successful and as honorable as could be desired. Our trade 
had been successfully protected by the squadron of frigates 
under Commodore Rodgers, and the capture of the British 
frigate Guerriere, by the Constitution, Commodore Hull, 
under circumstances of peculiar gallantry, won for that officer 
the highest praise, and for his country's navy the respect and 
admiration of the world. 

On the 2d of December, 1812, the twelfth Congress con- 
vened in its second session ; and on the 4th President Mad- 
son, — who had been re-elected by a respectable majority, 
over Hon. De Witt Clinton, the candidate of the Federal 
party, — transmitted to that body his annual message. It 
'sketched, briefly and clearly, the events of the war, as far as 
it had advanced, and made an eloquent appeal to the honor 
and patriotism of the Representatives of American freemen, 
to vindicate their wrongs, and prosecute the contest upon 
which they had so boldly entered. The Treasury receipts 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 73 

of the year had been about sixteen millions of dollars, inclu- 
ding a loan of nearly six. A bill for the increase of the 
Navy was immediately passed by Congress ; and, on the 24th 
of December, the Military Committee in the House adopted 
a bill to raise, in addition to the existing military establish- 
ment of the United States, a regular force of twenty thousand 
men — making fifty thousand in the whole — for one year, un- 
less they should be sooner discharged. The consideration of 
the bill was delayed a day or two, by the death of a member, 
and other causes, but was soon entered upon and for some 
time engaged the ardent attention of the House. The pro- 
posed increase of the army was strenuously and most ably 
opposed by Randolph, Pitkin, and several other gentlemen, 
who had, from the first, been prominent denouncers of the 
war. On the 29th Mr. Clay moved an amendment, to re- 
peal the laws allowing a bounty of land to recruits, on the 
ground that they had proved wholly inadequate to the ob- 
ject proposed ; that the land would, in the end, fall into the 
hands of speculators ; and that an increase of the bounty, in 
money, would be much more to the advantage of both the 
government and recruits. The motion was agreed to by the 
Committee, but afterwards rejected by the House. On the 
5th of January, 1813, Mr. Quincy made a most powerful 
speech against the main bill. It was one of the most vio- 
lent and abusive ever delivered on that floor ; and it called 
forth, fiom Mr. Clay, one of the most scorching and elo- 
quent replies recorded in the history of Parliamentary debates. 
The spirit of Mr. Quincy's remarks may be gathered from 
the recorded report ; but many of its bitterest expressions — 
some of which, those present have declared, " produced dis- 
gust on all sides of the House" — were never preserved; and 
the whole speech was, in other respects, greatly softened in 

10 



74 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

its tone. He denounced, as one of the most wanton and 
wicked acts ever contemplated, by any nation, the proposed 
invasion of Canada, and declared, that he i( could not be- 
lieve that for the offences of a nation three thousand miles 
distant, we were justified in visiting with fire and sword, an 
innocent, unoffending people, who were tied to us by acts of 
friendly intercourse and neighborhood." " Since the inva- 
sion of the bucaneers," said he, "there is nothing in his 
tory like this war. The disgrace of our armies is celestial 
glory, compared to the disgrace reflected on our country by 
this invasion— yet it is called a war for glory ! Glory 1 Yes, 
such glory as that of the tiger, when he tears the bowels from 
tke lamb, filling the wilderness with its savage roars. The 
glory of Zenghis Khan, without his greatness— the glory of 
Bonaparte. Far from me and mine, and far from my coun- 
try be such glory !" Mr. Quincy characterised those who 
opposed the sentiments he had advanced, as " creatures — 
household troops, who lounge for what they can pick up 
about the government house — who come here, and, with 
their families, live and suck upon the breast of the treasury 
— toad-eaters, who live on eleemosynary, ill-purchased 
courtesy, upon the palace, swallow great men's spittles, and 
get judgeships, and wonder at the fine sights, and fine rooms, 
and fine company : and, most of all, wonder how they them- 
selves got there." ' ' But," he said, " he had conversed upon 
the question with men of all ranks and conditions in Massa 
chusetts ; with men hanging over the plough and on the 
spade— judicious, honest, patriotic, sober men, who, if it 
were requisite, and their sense of moral duty went along with 
the war, would fly to the standard of their country at the 
winding of a horn, but who now hear yours with the same 
indifference they would have have heard a Jew's-harp or * 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 75 

boQjO — because tliey are disgusted with the mode of carrying 
on the war." Those in the House who favored the war, he 
stigmatised as " young politicians, with the pin-feathers yet 
unshed, the shell still sticking upon them — perfectly unfledg- 
ed, though they fluttered and cackled on the floor — who fa- 
vored such extravagant and ignorant opinions of a very proud 
nation." He justified his harshness of language by saying, 
that, "it would ill become a man whose family had been 
two centuries settled in the State, and whose interests, con- 
nections, and affections, were exclusively American, to shrink, 
from his duty for the yelping of those blood-hound mongrels 
who were kept in pay to hunt down all who opposed the 
court — a pack of mangy hounds, of recent importation — their 
backs still sore with the stripes of European castigation, and 
their necks yet marked with the check-collar." Mr. Quincy 
argued, or, rather, inveighed at length against the French as- 
cendancy, under which, he maintained, the advocates of war 
were acting, and mingled with his remarks a coarse diatribe 
against ex-President Jefferson, then enjoying, in retirement, 
the ease he had so richly deserved by a life of devotion to 
the public service. These quotations from his speech have 
been necessary, in order properly to appreciate portions of 
the reply of Mr. Clay, and, especially, to justify these per- 
sonal passages, in which Mr. Quincy received tenfold meas- 
ure for the invective he had poured upon the heads of his op- 
ponents. This speech of Mr. Clay is one of the most pow- 
erful in this collection. The reply to Mr. Quincy, " whom," 
said he, " no sense of decency or propriety could restrain from 
soiling the carpet on which he treads," has few parallels, in 
point of severity, in the language ; while that portion of 3 
which sketches the piteous condition of American seamen, 
held in British bonds, and in vain asking of their own gov- 



76 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

ernment that protection which their services and their suffer 
ings had merited, is moving and eloquent beyond example. 
A note to the speech, in the National Intelligencer of that 
date says, that, " it is impossible to describe the pathetic effect 
produced by that part of it. The day was chilling cold ; yet 
there were few who did not testify to the sensibility excited." 

The discussion of the Army Bill, in the House, was con- 
tinued for many days, and was conducted with the very high- 
est ability. Under the latitude of debate allowed, it was ex- 
pended so as to embrace the whole policy, foreign and do- 
mestic, of the administration. The decided stand taken and 
maintained with so much eloquence by Mr. Clay, in favor 0/ 
the war, awakened fresh life among the people, and con- 
tributed greatly to the animation and vigor with which it was 
afterwards waged. His eloquence and arguments, also, had 
great weight with the members of Congress ; and on the 14th 
of January, 1813, the bill for the increase of the military 
force, to which he had given so ardent a support, was passed 
in the House, by a vote of 77 to 42. In the Senate, some 
few unimportant amendments were made, which were speedi- 
ly adopted in the lower branch, and on the 16th the bill be^ 
came a law, by the signature of the President. 

On the 10th of February the electoral votes for President 
were formerly counted in Congress — when it appeared that 
128 had been cast for the incumbent, Mr. Madison, and 89 
for Hon. De Witt Clinton, of New York. The latter gen- 
tleman had been nominated, first, by an authorized Commit- 
tee of his native State ; and his election was urged, in an able 
address, on grounds of general policy, as well as of opposi- 
tion to the system of Congressional nominations to the Pre*i- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 



77 



dency, — Mr. Madison having been proposed for re-election 
in caucus by the Republican members of Congress. He was 
a most able and accomplished statesman, and had been, ori- 
ginally, opposed to the war : so that his defeat was regarded as 
a signal triumph by the Republican party. 

Congress re-assembled on the 24th of May, and Mr. Clay 
was again elected Speaker of the House, receiving 89 votes, 
in opposition to Hon. Timothy Pitkin, who received 54. The 
message of President Madison transmitted on the 25th, gave 
a brief and lucid sketch of the condition of the country, and 
contained an allusion to the spirit and manner in which the 
war had been waged by the British, who, it declared, were 
" adding to the savage fury of it on one frontier, a system of 
plunder and conflagration on the other, equally forbidden by 
respect for national character and by the established rules of 
civilized warfare." This mention of the sufferings and 
wrongs of his gallant countrymen, aroused the indignation 
of Mr. Clay : immediately after the reading of the message, 
he called attention to that portion of its contents, and, in a 
few most eloquent remarks, expressed his abhorrence of the 
outrages said to have been committed by the British armies 
and their savage allies, declaring that, " if they should be 
found to be as public report had stated them, they called for 
the indignation of all Christendom, and ought to be embod- 
ied in an authentic document, which might perpetuate them 
on the page of history." Upon his motion, and without op- 
position or division, a resolution was adopted, referring this 
portion of the President's message to a Select Committee. 
Towards the close of the session a Report was made by Mr. 
Macon on behalf of this Committee, in which a mass of tes- 
timony was submitted, exhibiting, in the clearest manner, 



78 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 



the inhuman outrages repeatedly perpetrated upon Ameri- 
can prisoners, by the Indian allies of British troops, and of- 
ten under the eye of British officers. It closed with a resolu- 
tion requesting the President to lay before the House, during 
the progress of the war, all the instances of departure, by the 
British, from the ordinary mode of conducting war among 
civilized nations. 

Congress had assembled under auspicious circumstances. 
The fortune of war, which at its commencement, seemed so 
much against us, had turned in our favor ; and signal victo- 
ries, by sea and by land, had repeatedly crowned the Amer- 
ican arms. A fifth naval victory had been added to the glory 
of our maritime exploits by Capt. Lawrence of the Hornet, 
who, with but eighteen guns, had captured, after a brisk and 
gallant action of fifteen minutes, the British sloop of war, 
Peacock, Capt. Peake, carrying twenty-two guns and 130 
men, the latter losing her captain and nine men with thirty 
wounded, while our loss was but one killed and two wounded. 
York, the capital of Upper Canada, had been captured by 
the army of the centre, in connection with a naval force on 
Lake Ontario, under Gen. Dearborn, while the issue of the 
seige of Fort Meigs, under Gen. Harrison had won for that 
officer, high and distinguished laurels for bravery and military 
skill. As early as September of the previous year, the Em- 
peror Alexander of Russia, had suggested to Mr. Adams, our 
Minister at St. Petersburgh, his intention to offer his media- 
tion between the United States and Great Britain. The pro- 
position had been favorably received and assurances had been 
given to the Emperor, of the earnest desire of our govern- 
ment, that the interest of Russia might remain entirely unaf- 
fected by the existing war between us and England 5 and 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 79 

that no more intimate connections with Fiance would be form- 
ed by the United States. With these assurances the Emperor 
had been highly gratified, and in the early part of March, 
1813, the Russian Minister at Washington, M. Daschkoff, 
had formally proffered the mediation of his government, 
which was readily accepted by the President. It was reject- 
ed, however, by the British government, to the great surprise 
of our own, on the ground that their commercial and maritime 
rights would not thereby be as effectually secured as they 
deemed necessary ; but, accompanying the rejection, was an 
expression of willingness to treat directly with the United 
States, either at Gottenburg or at London ; and the interpo- 
sition of the Emperor was requested in favor of such an ar- 
rangement. In consequence of the friendly offer of the 
Russian government, Messrs. Albert Gallatin and James 
A. Bayard, had been sent to join our resident Minister, Mr. 
Adams, as Envoys Extraordinary, at St. Petersburgh. The 
proposal of the British Ministry, to treat with us at Gotten- 
burg, was soon after accepted, and Messrs. Clay and Jona- 
than Russell were appointed, in conjunction with the three 
Plenipotentiaries then in Russia, to conduct the negotiations. 
On the 19th of January, 1814, Mr. Clay accordingly resigned 
his seat as Speaker of the House, in an eloquent and appro- 
priate address. He received the thanks of the House, for 
the manner in which he had discharged the duties of his re- 
sponsible office, and soon after sailed on his foreign mission. 

There was a peculiar propriety in the selection, on the 
part of our government, of Mr. Clay as one of the Commis- 
sioners, charged with the high duty of negotiating a treaty 
of peace with our ancient, and powerful foe. He had been 
foremost in denouncing her aggressions upon our rights and 



80 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

his voice had aroused the nation to a sense of the grievances 
and wrongs we had sustained at her hands. The vigor 
which his counsels inspired into the National Legislature, 
had greatly contributed to a successful prosecution of the 
contest, and the distinctness with which he had always and 
go eloquently defined the principles and rights, in defence of 
which we fought, made him a peculiarly suitable person to 
aid in insisting upon their full recognition as the sole condi- 
tion on which permanent peace could be secured. 

An intention was at first entertained of conducting the ne- 
gotiation at London, as more likely to result in the conclu- 
sion of peace, but Ghent was finally fixed upon with the ap- 
probation of our government, as a more eligible point than 
either of the others that had been suggested. On the part 
of the Britith government, Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, 
Esq. and Dr. William Adams had been appointed Commis- 
sioners. They arrived at Ghent on the 6th of August, 1814, 
all the American Plenipotentiaries being present, except Mr. 
Gallatin, who arrived soon after. In the negotiation which 
succeeded, the British Commissioners had the decided advan- 
tage arising from their proximity to their government, which 
enable them the more readily to consult the wishes of the Min- 
istry and thus to enlist upon their side all the strength of the 
British cabinet ; while our Embassadors, by reason of their 
remoteness from home, were under the necessity of deciding 
upon the spot and on their own responsibility, all the ques- 
tions that necessarily arose during the discussion. Whenever 
a note of any importance was received by the British Com- 
missioners from ours, (as we learn by one of the official 
despatches,) it was immediately sent by them to London 
and an answer awaited, in the form of instructions. What- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 81 

-*ver, on the other hand, was received by our delegation, was 
discussed by them in conference and thence committed to 
some designated member who was to prepare an answer. 
This was then submitted to the council, a copy taken to his 
lodgings by each member, and such amendments suggested 
as each deemed proper ; these were again discussed and the 
final answer jointly agreed upon. The exact share each 
member of the Commission had in the preparation of the of- 
ficial papers, cannot of course be ascertained; but in this as 
well as in the oral discussions of the joint meeting, it is under 
stood that Mr. Clay bore a conspicuous part. 

The negotiation was opened by the British Commissioners, 
at the first conference held on the 8th, by the expression of 
a sincere desire on their part that it might end in a solid and 
honorable peace. These sentiments were reciprocated ; and 
they then stated the principal subjects upon which the discus- 
sions would be likely to turn. The tone in which the nego- 
tiation was commenced was such as to forbid all hope of 
peace. At their first meeting the British had declared that 
an arrangement on the subject of Indian pacification must 
be effected ; that the boundaries of the Indian tribes, lying 
within our own territory, must be settled by treaty with Great 
Britain, and that the United States must be precluded from 
the right of purchasing Indian lands without the consent of 
that nation. The object of this was of course, to maintain 
the Indians as a perpetual barrier between the United States 
and the British provinces ; and any stipulation upon the sub- 
ject would have been a virtual cession, on our part, of the 
right both of sovereignty and of soil. The other subjects 
upon which the British embassadors proposed to treat, -were 
the forcible seizure of mariners from merchant vessels on the 

11 



82 MEMOIR OF HENR* i^LAY. 

high seas, and a revision of the boundary line : and they also 
declared that the British Government did not intend to " grant 
to the United States, gratuitously, the privilege formerly 
granted by treaty to them, of fishing within the limits of the 
British sovereignty, and of using the shores of the British ter- 
ritories for purposes connected with the fisheries." The 
American Commissioners replied, that, on the subjects of the 
Indian boundary and the fisheries they had no power to act ; 
and presented the definition of blockade and certain claims 
of indemnity, as further subjects of consideration. In the 
protocol of conference, the British Commissioners declared, 
that the inclusion of the Indians in the pacification, and the 
settlement of the boundaries between them and the United 
States, was a sine qua non; and upon this point, at the risk 
of a rupture of the negotiation, the American Commissioners 
hesitated not a moment to return a unanimous and decided 
refusal to treat. 

The pretensions of the Biitish, at the commencement of 
the discussion, seem thus to have been unwarrantably over- 
bearing and justly obnoxious. They made quite a parade of 
disclaiming all intention to " extend their territory Southward 
of the Lakes," and claimed the right not to abide by the 
terms then offered, but to " vary and regulate their demands" 
as the state of the war, at successive periods of the negotia- 
tion, might render expedient. They spoke of Moose Island, 
and others in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, over which, up to 
the commencement of the war, we had exercised unquestiona- 
ble jurisdiction, as " belonging of right to Great Britain — as 
much so as Northamptonshire ;" and quite forcibly made, the 
demand that the United States shoidd keep no naval force 
upon the Lakes, nor any military posts upon their eastern 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 83 

shores. The peremptory and haughty tone thus assumed, 
by a nation with whom the American Commissioners had 
gone to treat as equals, seemed at once to preclude all fur- 
ther discussion ; and our deputation felt warranted to close 
their first official despatch to Washington, by apprizing their 
ffovernment that there was not at that time " any hope of 
peace." Immediately on their arrival here, the official let- 
ters of our Commissioners were published, and thus the peo- 
ple were at once made acquainted with the spirit and temper 
of the British cabinet. It was seen that we were to be treated 
rather as a conquered people, than as an independent nation ; 
and the most lively indignation, at the humbling terms of- 
fered for our acceptance, was awakened throughout the coun- 
try. The feelings of the people, generally, were well ex- 
pressed by the Virginia Legislature, which passed resolutions 
declaring, that the terms were "arrogant on the part of 
Great Britain and insulting to the United States, meriting in- 
stantaneous rejection, and demanding the united exertions 
of every citizen of these States in the vigorous and efficient 
prosecution of the war, until it shall be terminated in a just 
and honorable peace." 

Fears were mevy generally entertained that the negotia- 
tions would be broken off; and hostilities were accordingly 
urged with increased vigor and efficiency. The subsequent 
events, including the signal victories at Plattsburgh, Balti- 
more, Chippewa, and othK places, had the effect to moder- 
ate, somewhat, the expectations of the British: reinforce- 
ments intended for <:he army in this country, were detained ; 
loud complaints p/the depredations of our seamen were made ; 
insurance on ressels between England and Ireland rose from 
three -fourths of one, to five per cent. ; and the tone of both 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

the London and Provincial press towards the United States 
was materially changed. In the meantime, the negotiations 
were continued at Ghent — the British Commissioners aban- 
doning the terms previously so peremptorily prescribed — and 
reducing their sine qua non to an article merely seeming In- 
dian pacification. Still it was evident that their only object 
was delay ; no purpose on their part was manifest, to con- 
clude a peace. They seemed desirous of keeping, in their 
own hands, the alternative of peace or a protracted war, until 
the fortune of the contest should take a more decided turn in 
their favor, or until the general arrangement of the affairs of 
Europe should be accomplished, by the great Congress of 
Vienna, which assembled at that city early in October, 1814. 
To the note of the British ministers, sketching the conditions 
and terms of the proposed arrangement, — one of which 
was, that such a portion of our territory should be ceded to 
Great Britain, as would secure an easy communication to the 
British between Quebec and Halifax, — our Commissioners im- 
mediately replied in a long letter, showing that the differen- 
ces about which they were empowered to treat, were wholly 
of a maritime nature, and that the proposition to make the 
Indians a party to the treaty between the two countries, was 
"contrary to the acknowledged principles of^public law and 
the practice of civilized nations." Nor were the Commis- 
sioners instructed, or empowered, to yield the right of main- 
taining a military force on ♦.he northern lakes, or to cede 
away any portion of the territoiy of the United States — nc 
matter what might be the motives of the British in asking it. 
" The conditions proposed by Great Britain," they said, 
" have no relation to the subsisting differ nces between the 
two countries : they are inconsistent with acknowledged prin- 
ciples of public law ; they are founded neither on. reciprocity 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 85 

nor on any of the usual bases of negotiation, neither on that 
of the uti possidetis or of status ante bellum ; they would in- 
flict the most vital injury on the United States, by dismem- 
bering their territory, by arresting their natural growth and 
increase of population, and by leaving their northern and 
western frontiers equally exposed to British invasion and to 
Indian aggression ; they are, above all, dishonorable to the 
United States, in demanding from them to abandon territory 
and a portion of their citizens ; to admit a foreign interference 
in their domestic concerns, and to cease to exercise their nat- 
ural rights on their own shores and in their own waters. A 
treaty concluded on such terms, would be but an armistice. 
It cannot be supposed that America would long submit to con- 
ditions so injurious and degrading. It is impossible, in the 
natural course of events, that she should not, at the first fa- 
vorable opportunity, recur to arms, for the recovery of her 
territory, of her rights, of her honor. Instead of settling ex- 
isting difficulties, such a peace would only create new causes 
of war, sow the seeds of a permanent hatred, and lay the 
foundation of hostilities for an indefinite period." u It is not 
necessary," they added, " to refer such demands to the 
American government for its instruction. They will be onl} r 
a fit subject of deliberation, when it becomes necessary to 
decide upon the expediency of an absolute surrender of na- 
tional independence. 

The spirit of this response seems to have taken the British 
Commissioners by surprise. They had evidently repaired to 
Ghent under the impression that America was willing to sue 
for peace, on any terms : and the patriotic indignation with 
which their propositions had been received by the Commis- 
sioners from th'e United States, apparently opened their eyes 



86 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

to the fact that the task of conquering the nation with vhich 
they were at war was yet a preliminary to the dictation of 
terms so humiliating and disgraceful, as those they had so 
haughtily proposed. In their reply, they complain pointedly 
of the aggrandizing spirit exhibited by the United States ; and 
that the frankness with which they at once declared the 
views of his Majesty's government, had not been met with 
an equal candor on the part of the American Commissioners ; 
and formally protest against the position assumed by them, 
that all the Indian nations, living within the territory of the 
United States, are " its subjects, living there upon sufferance, 
on lands which it claims the exclusive right of acquiring, 
thereby menacing the final extinction of those nations." 1 
They concluded by throwing upon the American Commis 
sioners, if they chose to do so, the whole responsibility of 
breaking off the negotiation. 

The American delegates refute, in detail, and with logical 
clearness, every point of the letter; and " deny the right of 
Great Britain, according to the principles of public law and 
her own practice, to interfere in any manner with Indian 
tribes residing within the territories of the United States, as 
acknowledged by herself, to consider such tribes as her allies 
or to treat for them with the United States." They declare, 
moreover, that " the employment of savages, whose known 
rule of warfare is the indiscriminate torture and butchery of 
women, children, and prisoners, is itself a departure from the 
principles of humanity, observed between all civilized and 
Christian nations, even in war;" and they suggest the stipu- 
lation, in the treaty, never to employ savages in any future 
war, as far more honorable and advantageous than the boun 
dary proposed by the British Plenipotentiaries., In conclu 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 87 

81011) they repeat, that the two propositions — 1, of assigning 
a boundary to the Indians within the United States, beygnd 
which the latter should not purchase ; and, 2, of securing to 
Great Britain the exclusive military possession of the Lakes, 
are both inadmissible ; and, with this understanding, they are 
willing to proceed with the negotiation. 

The subsequent correspondence, for more than a month, 
turns upon this single point — the American Commissioners 
refusing to swerve a hair from the ground they have already 
assumed — but offering to secure, upon the ratification of the 
treaty, the pacification of the Indian tribes ; and the British, 
finally, submitting an article to this effect, and offering, on 
their own behalf, a reciprocal pledge — which is at once 
accepted by the American Commissioners ; subject, like all 
the rest, to the decision of the government of the United 
States. They close by inviting the project of a treaty em- 
bracing all the points deemed national by Great Britain. 

Opened in this spirit of lofty, patriotic devotion to the 
jlonor and interests of their country, and sustained by the 
highest ability and diplomatic skill, it is not at all wonderful 
that the negotiations at Ghent should have secured, for the 
American Commissioners, the warmest thanks of their coun- 
trymen, and for the nation they represented the most solid 
and valuable advantages. The language in which they re- 
pelled the first most extraordinary pretensions of the British 
Commissioners, had evidently satisfied the latter that intimi- 
dation and lofty pretension would be met as they deserved ; 
and we find them, therefore, in their first note after the set- 
tlement of the question concerning Indian boundaries, speak- 
ing in a tone of unusual moderation of one of the principal 



OS MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

causes of the war. " With respect to the forcible seizure of 
mariners from on board merchant vessels on the high seas," 
they say, " and the right of the king of Great Britain to the 
allegiance of all his subjects, and with respect to the rights 
of the British empire, the undersigned conceive, that, aftei 
the pretensions asserted by the government of the United 
States, a more satisfactory proof of the conciliatory spirit of 
his majesty's government cannot be given, than not requit- 
ing any stipulation on those subjects, which, though most 
important in themselves, no longer, in consequence of the 
maritime pacification of Europe, produce the same practical 
results." Thus, at the especial request of the British gov- 
ernment, was the discussion of this important right, before 
that time claimed and enforced by them, of seizing from 
American ships former subjects of the British king, expressly 
waived ; and from that day to this she has carefully ab- 
stained from its exercise. 

It is unnecessary to follow farther, in detail, the course of 
this negotiation. The American Commissioners had, through- 
out the whole, the dictation of terms ; and, on the 24th day 
of December, 1814, the Treaty — as it was finally ratified by 
the governments of both countries — was concluded. Their 
decided superiority, over those with whom they had to deal, 
became evident at the outset ; and a glance at the Parlia- 
mentar}' debates of that day, will show the estimate in 
which their ability and skill were held by the leading men of 
'England. The first despatches of our Commission wer<# sent 
home immediately after the rejection of the British sine qua 
iwn ; and, as an immediate rupture of the negotiations waa 
anticipated, the contents were immediately published in the 
United States, where they served to inspire the fullest con- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 88 

fidence in the ability and patriotism of our envoys, and to 
arouse the people to a far more vigorous prosecution of the 
war. The state of feeling produced here was correctly indi- 
cated by Hon. Mr. Whitbread, in the British House of Com- 
mons, on the 19th of November, when he said, that u it now 
appeared, on the authority of Ministers themselves, that at 
the commencement of the contest, a large proportion of the 
American population were decidedly with them ; but that 
they had so fought, and so negotiated, that party had become 
extinct in the United States, and that but one common mind 
existed for directing the whole force of the Republic against 
that country." " No man," said Mr. Baring, on the same 
day and in the same House, " no man in the country could 
have expected that America would ever have yielded to such 
pretensions, at a time when the British had gained no advan- 
tage over her in the war." In Great Britain, the publication 
excited mingled feelings of shame for the defeat of their 
Commissioners, and apprehension for its effect upon the 
American people. It was seen at once that the pretensions 
they had advanced were such as could never be defended by 
the nations of the earth, and that the principles upon which 
they had professed to ground them, were utterly repugnant 
to all public law. In the discussion of an address to the Re- 
gent, it had been asked, with some concern, whether, on the 
subject of maritime rights, the British "were not wishing to 
exact more from America than they desired from any other 
power :" in the House of Lords, Lord Darnley "conceived 
that the naval administration of the country, in regard to the 
war with America, had been badly conducted," the Duke 
of Suffolk " considered the war as truly disastrous:" and 
Lord Grenville described the mode in which the war had 



12 



90 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 



been prosecuted as " barbarous and inconsistent with Euro- 
pean manners." 



When the papers, containing the correspondence, were re- 
ceived at Ghent, no little apprehension as to the effect upon 
the British, was felt by our Commissioners. They arrived 
just as the diplomatic body were preparing for a ball ; in or- 
der to ascertain the effect of the publication, in the evening 
Mr. Clay addressed himself to Lord Gambier and remarked 
that the whole world could now see what they were doing. 
His lordship replied with considerable spirit, that he "had 
seen the publication with infinite surprise, and that the pro- 
ceeding was wholly without example in the civilized world." 
Mr. Clay justified the publication by alledging the great 
probability at the time of their arrival, that the negotiations 
would be broken off and the different constitutional character 
of our government, which made it always proper for the peo- 
ple to be informed of the doings and discussions of their rep- 
resentatives. The explanation was received by the British 
Commissioners ; but the publication of the papers evidently 
created no little uneasiness among them. Soon after the 
promulgation of the correspondence in the United States, 
occured the British disasters at Plattsburgh and New-Orleans ; 
and the distinguished success of the American arms, on these 
and other occasions, was justly attributed to the indignant 
resentment of the people at the terms and tone of the British 
official notes, and at the wanton barbarism which had prompt- 
ed the burning of the Capitol at Washington, as well as other 
unjustifiable outrages by which the war had been character- 
ized. These events unquestionably hastened the negotiation 
of the treaty, and procured from the British more favorable 
terms than could otherwise have been confidently expected. 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 93 

The discussions of the American Commissioners, in private 
conference at Ghent, had been remarkably harmonious ; and, 
upon one subject only, did there occur any difference of opin- 
ion ; and as upon this the country owes to Mr. Clay the re- 
moval of all foreign incumbrance on the important naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi, and the preservation unimpaired of our 
right to the fisheries, a sketch of the origin and progress of 
this difference may not be out of place. The treaty of 1783 
contained an article, expressly securing to the United States 
the right of fishing at all places where the inhabitants of 
both countries had used to fish ; also, to take, but not cure, 
fish on such part of the New Foundland coast as British fish- 
ermen might use and to cure fish on the unsettled bays and 
the harbors of Nova Scotia and Labrador ; but provided that, 
when these bays should be settled, the enjoyment of the right 
should depend on the consent of the inhabitants. In pre- 
paring the instructions to our Commissioners, Mr. Monroe 
had mentioned the probability that late events in France 
might have produced such an effect on the British govern- 
ment, as to induce them to demand a surrender of our right to 
the fisheries, li We cannot believe," said the Secretary, " that 
such a demand will be made ; should it be you will of course 
treat it as it deserves. These rights [including that to trade 
beyond the Cape of Good Hope and the possession of Louis- 
iana] must not be brought into the discussion. If insisted 
on, your negotiations will cease." Thus stood the subject of 
the fisheries. Quite as explicit were their instructions con- 
cerning the navigation of the Mississippi. By an article in 
the treaty of 1783 the navigation of that river was opened to 
both countries from its source to the ocean ; and the same 
right was renewedly granted by the treaty concluded by Mr. 
Jay in 1794. This was in fact, rendered necessary by the 



92 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

law of nature, as incorporated into the law of nationg, and 
founded upon the supposed relations of the two contracting par- 
ties. At the date of both these treaties, Spain possessed the 
sovereignty of the entire western shore of the Mississippi from 
its mouth to its source, and of both sides from the gulf to the- 
thirty-first degree of north latitude. The United States had 
the right to the eastern shore above this point to the bounda 
ry line between their territory and that of Great Britain^ 
which it was supposed, would include a portion of the upper 
part of the river when it came to be marked from the Lake 
of the Woods, as provided by the treaty of 1783. Great 
Britain, therefore, possessing territory as was supposed at the 
source of the Mississippi, had the right of free access to its 
mouth, aside from the treaty stipulation. But at the date of 
the treaty of Ghent the whole aspect of the case was changed. 
The United States, by purchase in 1803, had acquired all 
the previous rights of Spain in regard to the Mississippi ; and 
it had been ascertained, moreover, by actual survey, that the 
British line of Boundary, designated in the treaty of 1783, 
would not strike the Mississippi, but would pass above its 
source. Thus the natural right of the British to the navi- 
gation of that river, ceased ; and the Mississippi was wholly 
within our territory, and fell within the instructions of Mr. 
Monroe, which expressly prohibited the American Com- 
missioners from granting to Great Britain the « right to the 
navigation of any river exclusively within our jurisdiction. " 

In the Protocol of the first Conference held with the British 
Commissioners, notification had been formally given of an in- 
tention on the part of the latter, not to renew the grant former- 
ly enjoyed of the privilege of fishing within British jurisdiction; 
and it thus became necessary for our Plenipotentiaries, though 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 93 

forbidden to discuss the right, to submit some stipulation upon 
the subject in their project of a treaty. All of them were 
desirous to preserve the right unimpaired ; and Mr. Adams 
seems to have differed from all the rest, in thinking that the 
stipulation in the treaty of 1783, was from its nature imper- 
ishable and had survived the war. He held, therefore, that 
no new article upon this subject was necessary. His col- 
leagues thought differently, and Mr. Gallatin accordingly 
proposed to grant to Great Britain the right of navigating the 
Mississippi, in exchange for that of fishing within British ju- 
risdiction. Upon this ensued a long, earnest and animated 
discussion. Mr. Clay and Mr. Russell strenuously opposed 
it, on the ground that they were forbidden to grant the right 
of navigation, as the Mississippi was within our own exclu- 
sive jurisdiction. Messrs. Adams, Gallatin and Bayard, 
were in favor of the article and were about to insert it accor- 
dingly, when Mr. Clay declared that he would sign no treaty 
which should contain such a stipulation ; and Mr. Bayard, 
thereupon came over to the minority and the proposition 
was rejected. 

In justification of the course he felt bound to take upon 
this question, Mr. Clay urged the instructions of our govern- 
ment, forbidding them alike to discviss the right to the fish- 
eries and to grant the navigation of any river within our own 
jurisdiction; he represented the important concession we were 
called upon to make, in thus admitting to equal privileges 
tfith our own, upon the noblest of our rivers, the vessels of 
t, foreign nation ; with the right of navigating the Mississippi, 
Great Britain he proved, would havo free access to the Indi- 
ans of our North Western territory, whom she had already 
employed against us, and thus aggravated the necessary 



94 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

horrors of war by the addition of savage butchery and unex- 
ampled outrages ; there was no possible connection between 
this right and that of the fisheries, and a proposition to grant 
to Great Britain the half of any state in the Union, in ex- 
change for this right to fish, would have seemed quite aa 
reasonable and defensible as this. He urged the matter with 
great zeal and earnestness, and proved finally successful. 
The Commissioners decided to answer the British declaration 
by citing their instructions, which forbade a discussion of the 
subject, and by saying that, " from their nature and from the 
peculiar character of the treaty of 1783, by which they were 
recognized, no farther stipulation had been deemed necessary 
by the government of the United States, to entitle them to 
the full enjoyment of all their previous rights or liberties 
in relation to the fisheries." The British Commissioners 
finally proposed an article, granting the unconditional right 
of navigating the Mississippi, but this was declined — and thus 
the Father of Rivers was for ever closed to British ships. 

From the difference of opinion among our negotiators, upon 
this point, arose some years afterwards an unpleasant contro- 
versy, in which Mr. Clay was involved. On the day after 
the signature of the treaty of Ghent, our Commissioners wrote 
a letter, containing a sketch of their debates on the subjects 
of disagreement. In that letter it was stated, that the offer 
of the navigation of the Mississippi to the British, was made 
by a majority of the American mission. In a letter of the 
same date, Mr. Russell informed the Secretary of State that 
he was in the minority on that question ; and he afterwards 
gave a statement of the reasons which induced him to assume 
the position he held with regard to it. These papers were 
preserved in the archives of the government Tmtil 1822, 



MEMOIR OF HENRtf CLAY. 95 

when, in answer to a call from the House of Representatives, 
the President transmitted, with the whole correspondence, a 
private letter from Mr. Russell, purporting to be a duplicate 
of one also transmitted from the State department. Between 
these two letters there was a variation, in the statement of a 
matter of fact, which subjected Mr. Russell to the severest 
censure of Mr. Adams, in a newspaper -correspondence which 
immediately ensued. Mr. Clay, in a letter to Mr. Russell, 
intended to be private, acquiesced in the censuring bestowed 
for 'the alteration of his letter, charged and proved by Mr. 
Adams ; and took occasion to give, briefly, a sketch of their 
proceedings in relation to the subject of their difference. Mr. 
Adams had inferred, from the fact that the note, alledging the 
" peculiar character of the treaty of 1783," as preserving 
unimpaired the right of the United States to the fisheries, was 
signed by all the Commissioners : that Mr. Clay concurred 
in believing that the provisions, respecting the grants, were 
imperishable, and did not, therefore, expire on the. breaking 
out of the war. The correctness of this inference Mr. Clay 
denied : he said that he suggested the insertion of the words 
"a majority," in the despatch to the Secretary of State, for 
the express purpose of informing his own government that 
there was a division among themselves upon the point ; and, 
for the very purpose of concealing that division from the 
enemy, he affixed his signature to the note sent to the British 
Commissioners, saying, that " his signature no more proved 
his assent, than the signature of an arbitrator to an award, 
proves his assent to it, when it was carried by a majority 
against his opinion, or an assent by a member of an aggregate 
body to all the transactions of that body which happened 
during his presence." The controversy between Mr. Adams 
and Mr. Russell, on this occasion, was quite bitter: but 



96 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 



neither of them, in the least, assailed the course, or impeach- 
ed, in any degree, the character of Mr. Clay. 

During the residence of our Ministers at Ghent, they were 
treated with the highest respect by the public authorities, and 
the attentions of private individuals manifested the regard in 
which their political skill and personal worth were held. 
They were all elected members of the Academy of Sciences 
and Fine Arts of that city, and received the most enthusiastic 
compliments of a large company, at a magnificent banquet 
given at the anniversary of that institution. The) 7 were upon 
terms of familiar and courteous intercourse with the members 
of the British Mission, and with Lord Gambier, especially , 
a nobleman distinguished not less by his private virtues than 
by his public worth, Mr. Clay formed an intimate and mutu- 
ally pleasing acquaintance. We find recorded in the jour 
nals of that day, the following instance of a happy retort of 
Mr. Clay for a gratuitous civility on the part of Mr. Gould 
burn. That gentleman, while both were stopping for a time 
at Brussels, one morning sent to Mr. Clay, by his servant, 
late papers, containing an account of the capture and destruc 
tion of Washington by the British. It happened that Mr 
Clay had that morning received from Paris late papers, con- 
taining an account of the total defeat of the British forces, by 
land and water, on Lake Champlain. He accordingly sent 
these, by his servant, to Mr. Gouldburn, in return for his 
courtesy. 

The negotiation of the treaty of Ghent, may, without the 
slighest exaggeration, be classed among the most successful in 
the history of the country. On the part of the American 
Commissioners, the whole was conducted with the very 



MEMOIR OK HENRY CLAY. 97 

highest ability, the most consummate skill, and the most un- 
bending devotion to the honor and welfare of their country. 
In the treaty finally established, every point for which the 
United States had contended was secured with the sin- 
gle exception of a stipulation on the subject of impressment : 
but, when it is remembered that silence on this topic was 
granted, at the express desire of the British Cabinet, (for they 
were, in reality, the negotiators in this matter,) who had first 
asserted, and always, up to that time, exercised the right; 
and, moreover, that the instructions of our own government 
expressly authorized them, previous to opening the negotia- 
tion, "to omit any stipulations upon this subject,"' with the 
express understanding that it was not the " intention of the 
United States to admit the British claim thereon, or to re- 
linquish thaj, of the United States" — it will be deemed no 
slight triumph that the request for silence came from the 
nation which had, ever before, solemnly proclaimed her pre- 
tensions, and uniformly carried them into practical effect. 
The treaty was received in the United States with the Great- 
est favor. All through the country it was regarded as a noble 
vindication of the honor and interests of the nation, and as a 
signal triumph over British insolence and cupiditv. It spread 
universal joy throughout the land, while it was received in 
England with the most open and violent complaints. It was 
declared, in some of the leading London journals, that the 
British Commissioners had conducted the negotiation under 
fear of some of the great European powers, who had, at the 
Congress of Vienna, manifested an intention to uphold the 
principles in defence of which the United States had been 
contending. The Times acknowledged that England had 
"attempted to force their principles on America and had 
failed : we have retired from the combat with the stripes yet 

13 



98 MEMOIR OF HENRY CXAY. 

bleeding on onr back : scarcely is there an American ship of 
war which has not to boast of a victory over the British flag — 
scarcely one British ship in thirty or forty that has beaten an 
American. " The same paper of a subsequent date contra- 
dicts the report, industriously circulated by interested per- 
sons, of rejoicings of the people on learning the terms of the 
treaty. Another leading London journal says, that the treaty 
" forms a deplorable contrast with the high-sounding threats 
of a part of trie public press. The waiving of some rights 
and the mere retention of others, is a miserable finale to a 
war that, we were told, must not cease until the Americans 
had been ' confoundedly well flogged ;' which, it was boasted, 
must dismember the Union, overthrow the government, and 
sweep the American navy from the ocean." A third calls^ 
loudly upon the Prince Regent not to ratify so c ^ disgraceful" 
a treaty : " it is inconsistent with common sense," they say, 
" to deny that our naval reputation has been blasted in this 
short but disastrous war ; it is inconsistent with the spirit and 
feelings of Englishmen not to regret that the means of re- 
trieving that reputation are cut off by a premature and inglo- 
rious peace." And, in the upper House, Lord Wellesly, 
known as one of the most bitter enemies of America on the 
floor of Parliament, denounced the British Cabinet for hav- 
ing " advanced claims in the negotiation which they could 
not support, and were obliged to withdraw : for refusing to 
accept the mediation of Russia ; and for the wanton destruc- 
tion of the public buildings at Washington;" and confessed 
that " the American Commissioners had shown the most as- 
tonishing superiority over the British in the negotiation" at 
Ghent. The effect of the treaty was to revive business of all 
kinds in America, and to instantly advance American credit 
abroad ; while at London funds kept on a dead and heavy 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 99 

level, instead of rising from 10 to 15 per cent, as had been 
confidently anticipated by the friends of peace. 

Immediately after the close of the negotiations at Ghent, 
Mr. Clay repaired to Paris, where he spent several weeks with 
Mr. Crawford, our Minister there. He met here Madame 
De Stael, and many other eminent personages of the day, 
and in March, 1815, left Paris for England. He arrived in 
England before any of the other American Commissioners, 
and mingled in the highest social and political circles — 
though his repugnance to the formalities of a Court presen- 
tation, prevented him from seeing the Prince Regent. He 
was in London at the time of the Battle of Waterloo, and 
witnessed the splendid illuminations, bonfires and general 
rejoicings to which that event gave rise. At a dinner given 
by Lord Castlereagh, Lord Liverpool asked him if Napo- 
leon — who, it was thought, might have fled to America — 
would not give his countrymen much trouble. " None what- 
ever," said Mr. Clay : " we shall be glad to receive him, and 
will soon make a good democrat of him." During his stay 
in England, Mr. Clay became intimately acquainted with Sir 
James Mackintosh, Sir Samuel Romilly, and other eminent 
British statesmen, and spent a week with his friend, Lord 
Gambier, at his residence near Windsor Castle. 

Mr. Clay returned to the United States in September, 1815, 
and was received with the greatest regard by the people, 
whose rights he had so ably and so nobly aided to defend. 
Soon after his arrival, the compliment of a public dinner was 
given to himself and Mr. Gallatin, in New York ; and in his 
own State the liveliest demonstrations of rejoicing greeted his 
return. The Board of Trustees of Lexington — the town where 



300 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

he had long resided — waited upon him, formally to present 
their thanks for his eminent services in behalf of his country, 
and to express the feelings of joy with which they welcomed 
him again among them. In his reply to their very flattering 
compliments, Mr. Clay said, that, u during a great part of 
the negotiation which terminated in the treaty of Ghent, our 
duty was limited to the simple rejection of inadmissible terms 
proposed by the Ministers of Great Britain. The time will 
never arrive when any American minister can justly acquire 
honor for performing a duty so obvious as that always must 
he, of refusing to subscribe to disgraceful conditions of peace.' 
On the 7th of October the citizens of the same town gave him 
a public dinner, at -which, in reply to a toast complimentary 
to the American negotiators, he made some brief and eloquent 
remarks concerning the circumstances under which the treaty 
had been concluded, and the general condition of the coun- 
try, both at the commencement and the close of the war. At 
the same festival, in reply to a toast highly complimentary 
to himself, he thanked the company for their kind and af- 
fectionate attention. His reception, he said, had been more 
like that of a brother than a common friend or acquaintance, 
and he was utterly incapable of finding words to express his 
gratitude. He compared his situation to that of a Swedish 
gentleman, at a festival in England, given by the Society for 
the Relief of Foreigners in Distress. A toast having been 
given, complimentary to his country, it was expected that 
he should address the company in reply. Not understanding 
the English language, he was greatly embarrassed, and said 
to the Chairman : " Sir, I wish you, and this Society, to con- 
sider me a Foreigner in Distress.'' u So," said Mr. Clay, 
evidently much affected, " I wish you to consider me a friend 
m distress.'' 



MEMOiR OF HENRY CLAY. 10 1 

Even in anticipation of his return, Mr. Clay had been re- 
elected, by his district, a member of the House of Represen- 
tatives ; but, as some doubts were expressed of the legality 
of the election, he promptly resigned his seat, and was again 
chosen without opposition. On the 4th of December, 1815, 
the Fourteenth Congress met, in its first session ; and, upon 
the first balloting for Speaker, Mr. Clay received eighty- 
seven, out of one hundred and twenty-two votes cast; thir- 
teen being the highest number given for any one of the five 
opposing candidates. He was, at this time, just recovering 
from a serious indisposition, but accepted the office in a brief 
and appropriate speech, acknowledging the honor conferred 
upon him, and pledging his best efforts for the proper dis- 
charge of its duties. Out of the 182 members of the House, 
177 belonged to the Republican party ; while in the Senate 
there were 24 Republicans and 12 Federalists. The condi- 
tion of the country, at the opening of the session, called for 
the exercise of all the wisdom and energy of her National 
Legislature. We had just gone through an arduous war with 
the most powerful nation on the earth : it had been waged 
successfully ; had conferred high renown upon our arms, and 
had terminated in an honorable and satisfactory treaty of 
peace. But it had involved the nation in extreme suffering, 
and the price of the contest was now to be paid. The amount 
of the Public Debt was as follows : 

Public Debt, contracted before the war, $39,135,484 

Funded Debt, contracted in reference to the war, 63,144,972 

Floating Debt, en account of the war, 17,355,100 

Total amount of the Public Debt, $ 119,635,556 

But the extent of this debt by no means measured the in- 
jury which the country had sustained. Previous to the com- 



102 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

mencement of the contest, the wars in which fc'ne great iwt 
tions of Europe were engaged had diverted tL* attention of 
their people from commercial pursuits, and had created a 
demand for all the surplus products of the world. Holding 
the advantageous, and at that time, unique, position of a neu- 
tral nation, the United States had found abroad a ready mar- 
ket for all their produce, and ample employment for her ships, 
in the carrying trade for all the great, powers engaged in the 
continental combat. But now the unfabled giant, who had 
stolen from hell its torch of discord, and aroused half the 
earth to madness and carnage, had been chained to his ocean 
rock ; and the nations of the oluj world enjoyed rest for a 
season. The weapons of warfare were laid aside ; the arts 
of Peace were revived; and Agriculture, Commerce, and 
Manufactures, were again prosecuted by the people, who, for 
so long a time, had looked abroad for the supply of their 
daily wants. Our grains, of course, were not there needed. 
We found no market abroad for the surplus products of our 
fertile land, nor were we longer permitted to absorb the com- 
merce of the world. We had trusted to these foreign aids,, 
and they were now withdrawn from our support. No ade- 
quate protection had been given to our Manufactures, and 
even our naval and military establishments, to a great extent, 
had depended upon smugglers from Britain for their clothing 
and necessary munitions of war. For these we had paid an 
extravagant price, and had thus, besides defraying our ex- 
penses during the contest, aided largely our foe in sustaining 
her own. Now that the war was over, we were forced to look 
abroad for our supply of manufactured goods, and in return 
for these, but little of our produce being needed, our specie, 
was exported, and scarcely a dollar of it ever returned. Our 
Banks had thus been forced to suspend specie payments, and 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 103 

they were countenanced in the step by both government and 
people. Exchange upon England rose to 20 and 25 per cent, 
above par. There were but about fifteen millions of specie 
in the country, while the issues of the banks amounted to 
more than one hundred millions of dollars. 

Such was the condition of the country, at the opening of 
the session of 1815-16. Id a brief and explicit message, 
President. Madison informed Congress of the general state of 
public affairs, and indicated the establishment of a National 
Bank and of a Protective Tariff as the two great measures 
of relief. In his Annual Report, the financial condition of 
the country had been fully represented by Hon. A. J. Dal- 
las, Secretary of the Treasury, and he had, in the following 
emphatic passage, near the close of that extended and able 
document, seconded the leading recommendation of the 
President : 

14 The establishment of a National Bank," said he, " is re- 
garded as the best, and perhaps the only, adequate resource 
to relieve the country and the government from the present 
embarrassment. Authorized to issue notes which will be re- 
ceived in all payments to the United States, the circulation 
of its issues will be co-extensive with the Union : and there 
will exist a constant demand, leaving a just proportion to the 
annual amount of the duties and taxes to be collected, inde- 
pendent of the general circulation for commercial and social 
purposes. A National Bank will, therefore, possess the means 
and the opportunity of supplying a circulating medium of 
equal use and value in every State and in every district of 
every State. Establ shed by the authority of the United 
States; accredited by the government to the whole amount 



104 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

of its notes in circulation ; and entrusted as the depository of 
the government with all the accumulations of the public 
treasure ; the National Bank, independent of its immediate 
capital, will enjoy every recommendation which can merit 
and secure the confidence of the public. Organized upon 
principles of responsibility, but of independence, the National 
Bank will be retained within its legitimate sphere of action 
without just apprehension from the misconduct of its direc- 
tors or from the encroachments of the government. Eminent 
in its resources, and in its example, the National Bank will 
conciliate, and lead the State Banks in all that is necessary 
for the restoration of credit, public and private. And acting 
upon a compound capital, partly stock and partly of gold and 
silver, the National Bank will be the ready instrument to 
enhance the value of the public securities and to restore the 
currency of the national coin." 

The subject was immediately given into the care of the 
Committee on the National Currency ; and on the 8th of 
January, 1816, Hon. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, 
in behalf of that Committee, made an able and voluminous 
report, recommending the immediate chartering of a Bank of 
the United States, of which the leading features were given 
in an accompanying bill : the capital was to be, at first, 
thirty-five millions — to be gradually augmented to fifty : the 
bank to have the power of erecting branches, and none but 
resident citizens of the United States were to be directors 
* either of its branches or the parent bank. A bonus of a mill- 
ion and a half was to be paid by the bank for its charter. 
When this bill came before the House it received the ardent 
and considerate support of Mr. Clay, who thereby evinced a 
change of his opinions since 1811, when he had opposed the 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 105 

re-charter, on the ground, among - others, of its unconstitu- 
tionality. Had his objections, then, been founded wholly 
upon considerations of expediency, his subsequent support of 
the bill would not in the least have impugned his political 
consistency : for the weight and character of these considera 
tions must, of course, change with the varying circumstances 
from which they take their rise. In 1811, the State Banks 
were eminently sound, answered all the purposes for which 
any Banks were needed by the national treasury, en- 
joyed the full confidence of the people and preserved the 
currency of the country in a healthy condition. A na- 
tional institution, under these circumstances, did not seem 
necessary for the purposes of the government: and there 
were many reasons which led Mr. Clay, at that time, to be- 
lieve, that such a bank would be made to subserve the pur- 
poses and increase the strength of the Federal party, by 
whom its creation was chiefly desired. These reasons would 
of themselves have ensured and justified Mr. Clay's opposition 
to a bank in 1811 ; but in 1816 they had lost all their force. 
The issues of the State Banks had became unusually large ; in 
no section of the country did they enjoy the confidence of 
the people; the}- had universally suspended specie payments ; 
their paper was greatly depreciated, and, with the small 
amount of gold and silver, which the necessity of going abroad 
for our manufactured goods had left in the country, there 
was, in fact, no national currency — no money of equal value 
in all parts of the Union. Upon grounds of expediency, 
therefore, Mr. Clay might, consistently, have opposed the 
charter of a National Bank, in 1811, and been its ardent ad- 
vocate in 1816. But, in the former case, he had partially 
based his opposition on the ground, which he then assumed, 
that, under the constitution, Congress had no power, either 

14 



106 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

expressed or implied, under any circumstances, to create such 
an institution. This opinion he of course saw reason to 
change, or he could not have given his support to the bank 
in 1816, no matter how profound his convictions of the ne 
cessity of such an institution, at that time, might have been. 
He became convinced that, not only the expediency, but also 
the constitutionality, of the measure, depended upon the con- 
dition and necessities of the country. If a bank were abso- 
lutely requisite, in order that Congress might exercise that 
healthful control over commerce and the currency, which 
the constitution expresssly gives it, he saw that it must, there- 
fore, be a constitutional measure. If it were not needed, it 
would not be constitutional. Thus, in fact, its constitution- 
ality and expediency, from distinct and opposing questions, 
became identical and harmonious. With these convictions, 
Mr. Clay gave his support to the bank bill of 1816. 

Founded, as it evidently was, upon the purest principles 
of devotion to the public good, Mr. Clay, by this change of 
opinion upon a prominent political subject, has never for- 
feited the respect of a single man, whose respect was worth 
possessing. Party clamor has distorted the deed, and be- 
lied his motives, to his temporary hurt ; but candor and jus- 
tice have always regarded it, as posterity will regard it, as a 
noble act of an unselfish statesman, — too right-minded and 
courageous to cling to error, merely because he feared the 
opprobrium of not having been born as wise as he became by 
experience. 

The bill to re-charter the Bank was a subject of animated 
discussion for many weeks, in the House. The vote was 
taken, on its third reading, on the 14th of March, when it 



MEMOIR OV HENRY CLAY. 107 

was finally passed : 80 ayes to 71 nays : and sent to the Sen- 
ate for concurrence. On the 2d of April, after the bill re- 
ported by the Financial Committee had received a full and 
thorough discussion, it was finally passed in that body by a 
vote of 22 to 12 — two members only being absent. The 
amendments of the Senate were speedily adopted by the 
House, and on the 10th of April the bill became a law, by 
the signature of the President. The bank did not commence 
operations until 1817; and, tii rough a temporary mismanage > 
ment, for the first few years, its action did not fully justify 
the expectation of its friends. The State Banks, however, 
after a desperate struggle, were enabled to resume specie 
payments, by the help of three millions of specie, furnished 
by the National Institution, aided in turn by the public funds 
and the favor of the government ; and, after four or five years, 
things assumed a more healthy aspect. The notes of the 
United States Bank were everywhere received in payment of 
the public dues, and thus had a uniform value all over the 
Union : the bills of the State Banks were received at all the 
branches, and frequent settlements were required, so as effec- 
tually to prevent over-issues ; the branches, being chiefly 
located at the great commercial points, by the privilege they 
had of dealing in foreign exchange, were able to preserve a 
healthy equality between our exports and imports — suffi- 
cient, at least, to prevent an excess against us, which should 
drain them of their specie ; and, by a judicious extension, 
or contraction, of her discounts, the bank could regulate the 
currency of the country as the necessities of trade demanded. 
Periodical revulsions of course occurred ; but these changes 
were occasioned by a periodical increase of commercial ac- 
tivity, consequent upon the ingathering of crops and the re- 
turns of mercantile enterprise ; and excessive imports were 



108 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

thus opportunely checked ; the basis of the currency waa 
strengthened ; and those changes, so slightly felt by the com- 
munity at large, seemed, in fact, as essential to commerce 
and trade, as the periodical vicissitudes of the season to the 
full development of the products of the soil.': 

Very soon after Congress assembled, the Treaty, just con- 
cluded with Great Britain, of course became a subject of dis- 
cussion. Some of the members, and especially Mr. Randolph, 
had ventured to sneer at it, as being a dishonorable close of a 
war, they had so violently opposed. Mr. Clay mingled but 
little in this debate ; but, on the 29th of January, he rebuked 
the spirit thus manifested in an eloquent speech. "I gave 
a vote," said he, " for the declaration of war. I exerted all 
the little influence and talent I could command, to make the 
war. The war was made, and is terminated; and I de- 
clare with perfect sincerity, if it had been permitted to me to 
lift the veil of futurity and to have foreseen the precise series 
of events which has occurred, my vote would have been un- 
changed." In reply to the complaints that no stipulation on 
the subject of impressment was made, he said : " One of the 
great causes of the war and of its continuance, was the prac- 
tice of impressment exercised by Great Britain ; and if this 
claim had been admitted by necessary implication or express 
stipulation, the rights of our seamen would have been aban- 
doned. It is with utter astonishment that I hear it has been 
contended in this country, that, because our right of exemp- 
tion from the practice had not been expressly secured in the 
treaty, it was there given up ! It is impossible that such an 
argument can be advanced on this floor. No member, who 
regarded his reputation, would venture to advance such a 
doctrine." 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 109 

The convention of Commerce between Great Britain and 
the United States, which had been negotiated by our Minis- 
ters and those of Great Britain, at London, subsequent to the 
conclusion of peace at Ghent, became also a subject of dis- 
cussion in the House during the early part of this session : 
but as no important action was taken, and as the share of 
Mr. Clay in the debates was but slight, farther allusion to it 
is unnecessary. 

A proposition was brought forward at the same session to 
reduce the direct tax laid upon the United States, which Mr. 
Clay supported ; but said that the land-tax, even then, he 
deemed too high for the ordinary season of peace. He laid 
down this important general principle, that, "in time of 
peace, we should look to foreign importations as the chief 
source of revenue, and in Avar, when they are cut off, that it 
was time enough to draw deeply on our internal resources. 
His plan was to make up for a still farther decrease of the 
land-tax by an increase of the duties on imports." 

Towards the close of the session, the compensation of mem- 
bers of Congress became a subject of discussion. They then 
received six dollars per day — a sum barely sufficient to sup- 
port them, at Washington, but utterly inadequate for the en- 
joyment of domestic and social relations. Few men, who 
were not wealthy, would consent, by becoming members of 
Congress, to deprive themselves of the comforts and pleas- 
ures they were forced to surrender ; and, as a natural conse- 
quence, the business of legislation was fast falling exclusively 
into the hands of the rich. The chief subject of debate was 
the manner in which pay should be allowed. Some chose 
to make an addition to the per diem salary ; but, if this were 



HO MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

done, party rancor wovid charge the members with prolong- 
ing the session to increase their pay. Others were, there- 
fore, in favor of allowing a fixed and moderate salary; and 
on the 6th of March, Col. R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky, in 
behalf of the committee to whom the subject was referred, 
reported a bill, establishing the compensation at $1,500 per 
session for each member of both Houses. After a short but 
spirited discussion, it was passed in the House, by a rote of 
81 to 67, and in the Senate, 22 in favor to 11 against it. Mr. 
Clay had given his support to the bill, at the same time 
avowing his preference of a per diem compensation; and re- 
turned to Kentucky upon the adjournment of Congress, which 
soon followed the passage of the bill. He found that the 
demagogues, who had uniformly opposed everything he had 
favored, had succeeded in raising a tempest concerning this 
comparatively trilling matter, which the excitement of a dis- 
solution of the Union itself could not have surpassed. The 
philosophy of demagogueism remains to be written : its prin- 
ciples, however, have been made a rule of practice in all 
ages ; and the magnifying of molehills into mountains has 
been a matter of almost daily occurrence now for many cen- 
turies. But it would be difficult to find a more signal or suc- 
cessful instance of the kind than that exhibited on this occa- 
sion. The whole nation was shaken to its centre ; parties 
were formed and political armies marshaled ; and the patri- 
otism of the country was aroused, to the most ebullient in- 
dignation, at the bare proposition that a Member of Congress 
should dare to take thought for what he should eat and drink 
or wherewithal he should be clothed ; and the liberties of the 
l an d — that independence for which our patriot fathers bled 
and died — were menaced with destruction, when Congress, 
in its state of solitary starvation, ventured to demand the 



MEMOIR OE HENRY CLAY. Ill 

necessaries of life in payment of its thankless services. In 
Kentucky, nothing else was thought of or talked about. 
Every voice in the State was raised in expressing the hor- 
ror of the people. They forgot the love and admiration 
which the name cf Henry Clay had always aroused in their 
hearts. They forgot the long year:-! which he had given to 
their service. They thought wot of the lucrative practice he 
had laid aside when he espoused their cause ; they were 
blind to the national glory he had done so much to exalt- - 
as a statesman of great and commanding power — the defen- 
der of his country's honor, in her council halls and in strife 
with foreign diplomatists, — the champion of her strength in 
peace and in war, — he had ceased to hs known : — he had 
voted for the u compensation bill :" and for this he must re- 
tire to the inglorious shades of private life. His destruction 
was now deemed certain. His opponent was Mr. John 
Pope, one of the ablest and most influential citizens of the 
State ; and all his talents and skill were exerted in canvass- 
ing the district and haranguing the citizens against Mr. Clay 
and the compensation bill. For some time he had the field 
entirely to himself; but Mr. Clay was finally induced to 
meet him in public debate. He discussed, in his own mas- 
terly way, the merits of the obnoxious measure — showed the 
assembled thousands how frivolous we re the grounds on which 
they had so rashly proscribed him — and finally urged against 
his opponent all the federal principles by which his whole 
public life had been characterized. At the election Mr. 
Clay was returned to the House by a majority of several 
thousand over his opponent. He found during the canvass, 
however, that the people would prefer for the members a 
■per diem allowance ; and he accordingly gave his support, 
at the next Congressional session, to a bill which became a 



112 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

law, allowing each member eight dollars per day for his ser- 
vices as a member of cither House. 

As early as January, 1816, Mr. Clay had expressed his 
ardent sympathies in behalf of the South American Repub- 
lics, which had just succeeded in throwing off* the yoke of 
Spanish servitude, and were then struggling for an indepen- 
dent rank among the nations of the earth. In the debate on 
the proposition to reduce the direct taxation of the country, 
he had alluded to the existing peaceful condition of the Uni- 
ted States, and had hinted the possibility of hostilities with 
Spain. He had heard that the Minister of that nation had 
demanded the surrender of a portion of our soil — that part of 
Florida lying west of the Perdido. Without speaking of it as 
it deserved — of the impudence of such a demand — he allu- 
ded to it as indicative of the disposition of the Spanish gov- 
ernment. " Besides,*' said he, " who can tell with certainty 
how far it may be proper to aid the people of South America 
in the establishment of their independence V The subject, 
he avowed, had made a deep impression on his mind ; and 
he was not in favor of exhausting, by direct taxes, the coun- 
try of those funds, which might be needed to vindicate its 
rights at home, or, if necessary, to aid the cause of liberty in 
South America. 

These remarks aroused all the spleen and enmity of Mr. 
Randolph, and led to one of those personal passages which 
were of no infrequent occurrence between himself and Mr. 
Clay. " As for South America," said he, in his reply to 
Mr. Clay, "lam not going a tilting for the liberties of her 
people ; they came not to our aid ; let us mind our own bu* 
ainess and net tax our people for the liberties of the peop?,? 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 113 

of Spanish America." He went, on to ridicule the notion that 
people of Caraccas and Mexico were capable cither of enjoy- 
ing or of understanding liberty ; and insinuated that Mr. Clay 
was influenced by a desire of conquest. " The honora 
ble gentleman," he said, " had been sent on a late occasion 
to Europe : he had been near the field of Waterloo, and, he 
feared, had snuffed the carnage and caught the infection." 
" What," said he, " increase our standing army in time of 
peace, on the suggestion that we are to goon a crusade to 
South America V Mr. Clay intimated that he had advoca- 
ted no such measure. " Do I not understand the gentle- 
man ?" said Mr. Randolph ; " I am sorry I do not : I labor 
under two great misfortunes — one is that I can never under- 
stand the honorable speaker — the other is that he can never 
understand me : on such terms, an argument can never be 
maintained between us, and I shall, therefore, put an end to 
it." Mr. Clay simply expressed his surprise that he could 
so have misunderstood his remarks, and deferred the general 
argument to another occasion. 

Soon after, on a proposition to " prevent our citizens from 
selling vessels of war to a foreign power," Mr. Clay opposed 
the bill, on account of its evident bearing upon the question 
of South American Independence: it would even w here be 
understood as a law framed expressly to prevent the offer of 
the slightest aid to these Republics by our citizens. " With 
respect to the nature of their struggle," he said, tl I have not 
now, for the first time, to express my opinion and wishes. I 
wish them independence. It is the first step towards im- 
proving their condition." 

In the summer of 1816, the President appointed Messrs. 

15 



114 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

Rodney, Graham and Bland, Commissioners to ascertain the 
condition of the South American Republics and their ability 
for self-government. In March of the succeeding year, in 
the appropriation bill, was a clause appropriating $30,000 
for their compensation. This was opposed by Mr. Clay, on 
the ground that it was unconstitutional, and that the appoint- 
ment had been inexpedient. It was finally temporarily laid 
aside, and Mr. Clay then brought forward a provision to ap- 
propriate $18,000 as the outfit and one year's salary of a Min- 
ister from the United States to the independent provinces of 
the river La Plata in South America. The motion to insert 
this clause in the appropriation bill, was the occasion of the 
magnificent speech which he made on the general subject of 
South American Independence, on the 25th of March, 1818, 
and which, in every respect, is one of the tpost eloquent he 
ever pronounced. The measure, notwithstanding his zeal- 
ous and powerful support, encountered tho hostility »S the 
President and a majority in Congress, and; he resolutK*** of 
Mr. Clay was rejected. 

Though defeated here, he did not relax h^ efforts in behalf 

of the oppressed and struggling inhabitants of the South 

American Republics. On the 10th of February, 1821, he 

submitted a resolution in favor of an immediate recognition 

of their independence, although their desperate struggle was 

not yet closed, and supported it with all the eloquent ardor 

with which he had advocated his previous motion. He had 

• ;]ied the contest between these infant Republics and a 

cruel despotism, with feelings of intense concern. He had 

seen their fertile fields crimsoned with their blood, and had 

heard the agonizing cry they had sent up to Heaven and to 

.the nations of the earth. He had learned, tcs, the effect his 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 115 

former efforts had produced, in awakening and sustaining" 
their vigor and cheering them on to renewed and still more 
valorous exertions. His speeches had been read at the head 
of their armies ; his name was repeated with reverence by 
every soldier in their ranks ; and the Supreme Congress of 
Mexico had returned to him the national thanks for his able 
and disinterested labors in their behalf. He resumed the dis- 
cussion of the subject, therefore, with higher hopes and a 
more burning zeal than had ever animated him before ; and 
his exertions were crowned with eminent success. His reso- 
lution was carried by a vote of 87 to 68 ; and Mr. Clay was 
appointed Chairman of a Committee to announce to Presi- 
dent Monroe the action of the House. On the 8th of March, 
1822, the President recommended to Congress the recognition 
of the Independence of the South American Republics : the 
Committee on Foreign Relations, to whom the recommenda- 
tion was referred, reported in its favor, and on the 28th the 
recognition was finally voted, with but a single dissenting 
voice. Thus, through the instrumentality of Mr. Clay, in 
opposition to the views and wishes of many of his warmest 
friends, was this great measure of national justice adopted by 
the United States. The first free nation on the globe, through 
his exertions, thus became the first to extend a generous sym- 
pathy to those who first essayed to follow in their path of 
national independence. He received, for his noble efforts, 
the thanks, warm and heartfelt, of those in whose behalf he 
labored : and, though his conduct was made the theme of 
party clamor and invective, the sentiment of every noble 
spirit in this land of freedom has done justice to the mag- 
nanimity of his zeal and the purity and uprightness of his 
motives. 



116 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

It was at about this period of his public life, that Mr. Clay 
became prominent as the friend and supporter of the great 
system of Internal Improvements, to which he had frequently 
before signified his devotion. In January, 1816, in the de- 
bate upon the treaty he had just aided to conclude with Great 
Britain, he had declared the policy which, in his judgment, 
it became our government to adopt. He urged them, aftei 
providing for the military and naval defence of the country, 
<l to commence the great work of Internal Improvement." 
" I would see," said he, " a chain of turnpike roads and 
canals from Passamaquoddy to New Orleans ; and other simi- 
lar roads intersecting the mountains, to facilitate intercourse 
between all parts of the country, and to bind and connect us 
together." 

On the 12th of March of that year, the Republican mem- 
bers of Congress met to nominate a candidate for the Presi- 
dency, as President Madison had entered upon the last year 
of his second term. Mr. Clay ineffectually opposed the 
nomination of President in Congressional caucus, as a dan- 
gerous precedent, and as likely to encounter the oppositioft 
and disfavor of the people ; and Hon. James Monroe was 
nominated as the Republican candidate for the office of Presi- 
dent ; and at the election that ensued he was elected by a 
large majority. In his last message to Congress, in Decem- 
ber, 1816, President Madison " particularly invited the at- 
tention of Congress to the expediency of exercising iheir ex- 
isting powers, and, when necessary, of resorting to the pre 
scribed mode of enlarging them, in order to effectuate a com- 
prehensive system of roads and canals." On the 7th of Feb- 
ruary, 1817, an able report, in favor of the projected system, 
containing- an outline of its principal features, with a lucid 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 117 

exhibition of its beneficent operation, was submitted to the 
House, in which the estimates of the celebrated report of 
1808 were again presented. It was thought, that, for the 
aum of twenty millions of dollars, a system of works might 
be accomplished which would confer on the people of the 
United States all the advantages of good roads and canals of 
which the country was susceptible. A bill was accordingly 
introduced into the House appropriating for purposes of In- 
ternal Improvement the bonus of a million and a half, which 
the Bank of the United States was to pay for its charter. This 
soon passed both Houses of Congress and was submitted to 
the President, who, it was supposed, would sign it without 
hesitation — as it was in accordance with the principles of his 
message. On the 3d of March, however, the day before his 
official term was to expire, he ret«rned the bill with his 
objections. 

On the 4th of March President Monroe was inaugurated ; 
and, in his first message to Congress he expressed his opin- 
ion, in advance of all legislation on the subject, adverse to 
the constitutionality of Internal Improvement by the general 
government. He did this, he said, from a sense of the im- 
propriety of reviving the discussion in Congress, with an un- 
certainty of his opinion on the subject. He did not succeed, 
however, in stifling debate : for at that session a series of re- 
solutions, declaring the power of Congress to appropriate 
money for the construction of military roads, post-roads, and 
canals, was offered. The debate upon them was long and 
ardent. The effort of Mr. Clay was exceedingly able and 
effective : his examination of President Monroe's message, 
though perfectly courteous and dignified, was close and se- 
vere ; and his dcir., nation of the constitutionality of the 



118 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

proposed system was complete and conclusive. The first re- 
solution, declaring the power of Congress to construct mili- 
tary and post-roads, was carried by a majority of twenty, — 
though the others were lost. Mr. Clay, on various subse- 
quent occasions, renewed the discussion of this great national 
question, and has always strenuously upheld the right of the 
general government to appropriate money for purposes of In- 
ternal Improvement. The Cumberland Road is, in itself, an 
enduring monument of his eloquent and persevering labors. 
For years, in opposition to the most powerful influences, in 
his own words, he u had to beg, entreat, supplicate Congress, 
session after session, to grant the necessary appropriations to 
complete the road." " I have myself," said he, " toiled 
until my powers have been exhausted and prostrated, to pre- 
vail on you to make the grant." Upon the road stands a 
monument of stone, surmounted by the genius of Liberty, 
inscribed with the name of Henry Clay. 

In January, 1819, the conduct of General Jackson, — one 
of the most popular commanders in the army, whose defence 
of New Orleans, at the close of the war with Great Britain, 
had won for his gallantry the gratitude and admiration of the 
whole country, — in conducting the Florida campaign, came 
before the House of Representatives for investigation. The 
grounds upon which it became a subject of censure are so 
fully stated in the speech of Mr. Clay, on the Seminole War, 
delivered in the House of Representatives on the Sth of Jan- 
uary, 1819, that there is no necessity for a detailed exposi- 
tion of them here. The whole contest had its origin in the 
division of the Indians, at the breaking out of the war between 
the United States and Great Britain, the majority of them 
aiding the latter power, while but a small part continued 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY, 119 

friendly to us. A strong military force, undei Gen. Jackson, 
was accordingly sent into their territory ; and the destructive 
warfare waged against them by that relentless chief, soon 
compelled them to the most abject and hopeless submission. 
A treaty was formed in August, 1814, at Fort Jackson, if an 
instrument deserved the name, which was, in fact, a mere 
imposition of the most insolent demands, — far more disgrace- 
ful to the Christian victors than to the savage people unfor- 
tunately subjected to their tender mercies. This treaty was 
signed by the chiefs of about one-third of the nation — that 
portion who had never been engaged in hostilities with us, 
and with whom, therefore, no treaty could be made. Occa- 
sional acts of enmity between the residue and the whites fol- 
lowed this mockery of pacification, — though a letter, written 
in the simple eloquence of their race and signed by ten of the 
Seminole towns, solemnly declares that not a single murder 
had been committed by the Indians, that was not in return 
for some similar outrage perpetrated by the whites. u The 
white people," says the letter, " killed our people first : the 
Indians then took satisfaction. There are yet three men that 
the red people have never taken satisfaction for.' 1 From this 
time the Indians were treated as outlaws, and in the prose- 
cution of the war against them, all the dictates of humanity 
were disregarded, and the rights of neutrals were treated with 
unparalleled contempt. Indian chiefs were decoyed by Gen. 
Jackson to his camp, by raising a foreign flag, then seized 
and executed with remorseless cruelty. Two Englishmen 
who fell into his hands, one of whom was in the Indian camp, 
and the other was seized on Spanish neutral ground, neither 
being convicted of any crime, were hung, in defiance of the 
decision of a court-martial he himself had summoned ; and 
Pensacola was seized, without authority or color of law, mere- 



120 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

ly in revenge of a fancied insult from the Spanish Governor, 
who had dared to remonstrate with him for having seized St. 
Marks, not only in defiance of right, but in contemptuous 
violation of the orders of his own government. These acts 
of Gen. Jackson, high as he was exalted by his military 
fame in the eyes of the nation, had alarmed considerate men 
and invited their scrutiny. In both branches of Congress 
they were made the subject of examination, and the resolu- 
tions, which gave occasion, in the House, for Mr. Clay's 
speech upon the general topic, had been reported by a Select 
Committee ; and expressed the marked censure of the House 
of the obnoxious acts of General Jackson. In giving them 
his support, Mr. Clay not only did violence to the friendly 
feelings which had always, up to that time, existed between 
himself and the offending general, but placed himself in 
hazardous opposition to the strong current of the popular fa- 
vor. But he stood upon the high ground of moral principle ; 
and the eloquent speech in which he urged his views, while 
it treats with unusual forbearance and courtesy the man whom 
it so severely arraigns, vindicates, with remarkable clearness 
and power, the propriety of the course his sense of duty had 
urged him to take. The members of the House whom he 
addressed were almost without exception strongly prejudiced 
in favor of General Jackson, and listened with reluctance to 
any imputations upon his character or his acts. President 
Monroe and every member of his Cabinet deeply shared this 
feeling, and felt warranted in interposing their influence 
^against the resolutions of censure ; so that it is not at all mar- 
velous that they failed of success. 

In thus sketching, up to the year 1819, the most prominent 
porVf-sof Mr. Clay's public service, we have purposely 



MBMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 121 

omitted all reference to his efforts in behalf of that great sys- 
tem of Protection to American Industry, with which, more 
closely than with any other legislative scheme, his name will 
for ever be connected. In order to place before the public, 
in its true light, the magnitude and merit of his exertions in 
its behalf, a connected statement of the condition and wants 
of the leading interests of the country will be necessary ; and 
we deeply regret that our narrow limits forbid the detail 
which the importance of the subject would seem to demand.. 
As we have already seen, in various modes and at various 
times in the history of the country, the propriety of building 
up American Manufactures had been recognized, though 
timidly and in apparent distrust of our national ability to ef- 
fectuate so noble a scheme. In 1790 the Secretary of the 
Treasury was directed to examine and report upon the sub- 
ject ; and in 1810 the National Legislature had shown a 
marked solicitude to ascertain the actual progress of the 
United States in achieving the Independence commenced by 
the Revolution, by combining with the business of the census 
an inquiry into the condition of manufactures throughout the 
Union. Indeed, from the year 1808 to 1811, during the ope- 
ration of what was called the Restrictive System, the impor- 
tance of domestic manufactures became conspicuous to the 
nation, and sunk deep into the thoughts of every considerate 
statesman. During the four years — from 1804 to 1807, both 
inclusive — the average annual gross product of duties on mer- 
chandize imported, had been somewhat more than $24,000, 
000 — nearly double the average amount received under the 
operation of the system which succeeded. To supply this 
deficiency in the revenue, upon the approach of the war, the 
permanent duties, previously imposed upon imported goods, 
were doubled, by an act of July 18th, 1812, and an addi- 

16 



122 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

tion of 10 per cent, was made to these double duties on goods 
imported in foreign vessels. This act, by its own limitation, 
expired on the 17th of February, 1816. The act imposing 
an additional duty, commonly called the " Mediterranean 
Fund," of 2 1-2 per cent, ad valorem, and a discriminating 
duty of 10 per cent, upon that additional duty, in respect to 
goods imported in foreign vessels, expired on the 3d of March, 
1815. But the operation of the restrictive system, and of the 
war, fruitful as it was in suffering and mortification to the 
country, awakened to life in our soil the germ of future pros- 
perity and independence. During the war, every patriot be- 
held with unmingled shame the illicit traffic which sprung up 
with the enemy, and saw clearly the necessity of providing, 
by legislation which should protect our own industry, against 
its recurrence. The principles of the social compact, requir- 
ing a surrender of a portion of the natural rights of the indi- 
vidual for the security of the whole society, were recognized, 
and the force of a similar principle, as operating between the 
several States of the Union and the federal government, was 
also felt. The variety of soil and of climate which the United 
States enjoyed, evinced her possession of all the elements of 
national independence : and the country felt the necessity 
of establishing a domestic, in preference to a foreign market, 
and the employment of domestic, in preference to foreign 
labor. Under the influence of this conviction, the march of 
domestic manufactures, which, from the peace of 1783 to the 
year 1808, had been slow but steady, after that period be 
came bold and rapid. Cotton manufactories were multiply 
ing at the North ; So that, while in the year 1800 but 500 
bales were manufactured, in 1815, 90,000 were reported ; — a 
capital of $40,000,000 was invested ; employment was given 
to more than 100,000 persons, whose aggregate wages 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 123 

amounted to $15,000,000, and all the branches of Agricultu- 
ral and Commercial Industry had received a powerful stimu- 
lus from the rapid and beneficent development of the manu- 
facturing resources of the nation. In 1816 the subject came 
directly before Congress. A revision of the tariff was not then 
needed for purposes of revenue : for, by the estimates of the 
Committee of Ways and Means, it was shown that the per- 
manent laws then in force would produce more than $25,000,- 
000 of revenue, while the ordinary expenses of the govern- 
ment were but little above $15,000,000, thus leaving a sur- 
plus in the treasury after the necessary appropriations had 
been made for the payment of the public debt. The whole 
question was debated with reference to the policy of Protec- 
tion ; and on the 12th of March a report was made by Mr. 
Lowndes, of South Carolina, strongly recommending a Tariff 
of Protection, vindicating its expediency at some length, and 
containing a detailed bill to effect the object. The first avow- 
edly Protective Tariff ever proposed to the nation, thus had its 
origin in South Carolina, and received the able and ardent 
support of Hon. John C. Calhoun. While the bill was be- 
fore the Committee of the Whole, its principles and general 
policy were most powerfully urged by Mr. Clay, who sought 
especially to secure a more effectual protection for woollen 
goods than the bill proposed. The measure encountered the 
violent opposition of the New England section, on the mis- 
taken and since abandoned ground that it would injure her 
commerce, which at that time was her paramount interest. 
It became a law, nevertheless, but proved quite inadequate 
to the effectual protection of our manufactories in their inex- 
perienced infancy. The derangements of the currency aided 
the embarrassment, and the cotton business (with main ref- 



124 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

erence to which the tariff was proposed,) continued in an un 
settled state. 

No farther legislation, however, was proposed until the ses 
sion of 1819-20, when the subject of Protection again came 
before Congress, upon the same grounds and under nearly 
the same circumstances as before. A bill revising and im 
proving the tariff of 1816, was supported, zealously and with 
great effect, by Mr. Clay, and passed the House but was de- 
feated in the Senate. 

In 1824, the distress of the country again forced the subject 
of our National Industry upon the attention of Congress. Our 
exports had dwindled to an inconsiderable amount, while our 
imports of foreign goods had largely increased : the country 
was thus drained of its currency, which is always, in every 
country, its life-blood : we had lost nearly the whole of the 
carrying trade, by which the commercial prosperity of the 
nation had been greatly enhanced : disorder and embarrass- 
ment had been introduced into all our domestic affairs : we 
found at home no market for the products of the soil : man- 
ufactures were depressed, and neither cotton nor wool found 
here any sale : the produce of the farmer was stored- in his 
barns, a dead-weight upon his hands : money to pay debts 
could only be procured at enormous and ruinous sacrifices : 
bankruptcy pervaded every class, destroying their prosperity, 
blighting their energy, and blasting their hopes : the price of 
labor was reduced almost to a level with that of the crowded 
and impoverished nations of Europe : the value of property 
throughout the nation had fallen nearly 50 per cent, within 
ten years : and in all the departments of our industry were 
to be seen only prostration and embarrassment, nor could the 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 125 

clearest-sighted discern aught of relief in the future. It be- 
came the duty of Congress to examine the causes of thia 
wide-spread and undeniable distress ; and, as at this period 
the duties of the national representatives were not limited to 
1 taking care of themselves," they addressed themselves to 
iheir responsible task with energy and a sincere desire to rem- 
edy the ills which had settled upon the nation. In the opinion 
of the Committee to whose charge the subject was entrusted, 
the lack of efficient Protection for our Home Industry was the 
great central cause of all the suffering of the land ; and a bill 
was accordingly reported, revising the Tariff of 1816, and 
placing American Labor in a far higher and more indepen- 
dent position than it had ever before occupied. The bill was 
Protective in all its features ; and as such received the un- 
qualified support of Mr. Clay. He was its champion through- 
out the earnest and powerful debate which succeeded its in- 
troduction. Opposed to him were some of the strongest men 
in the country, actuated by different motives, basing their 
hostility mainly upon local, sectional considerations, and 
led on by Hon. Daniel Webster, then, as he has always 
been regarded since, one of the most formidable opponents in 
debate any of our statesmen have ever been called to en- 
counter. The speech of Mr. Clay, delivered on the 30th 
and 31st of March, is one of the strongest and most logical 
arguments he ever delivered. He sacrificed nothing to elo- 
quent display ; his whole effort was to prove, by demonstra- 
tion, by the clearest and most forcible reasoning and by all 
the experience of nations, the policy, the absolute necessity, 
of a Protective System ; and then to enforce his views upon 
the attention of Congress and of the country, by ever)' - con- 
sideration of patriotism, and by appeals to every generous 
and noble impulse which could have weight with upright, 



126 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

single-minded and devoted statesmen. The speech merits 
the closest attention of every man who would clearly see the 
grounds on which all of national independence and prosperity 
for which we can reasonably hope, must be based. On the 
16th of April the bill passed the House by a vote of 107 to 
102, and soon after became a law. To Mr. Clay's exertions 
its success was most justly attributed : all the strength of the 
friends of the system was centered in him ; upon his should- 
ers fell all the opposition of those who contested the passage 
of the bill, with a fierceness and ability seldom equalled in 
the history of Congressional debates. But he met every as- 
sailant with the same weapons of unanswerable logic and 
irresistible eloquence : the sarcastic abuse of Randolph could 
not move or entice him from his ground, nor the strong blows 
of Webster cause him for one moment to swerve from the 
great principle he had so warmly espoused. Through his 
exertions the bill became a law, and the American System 
was established. 

Under the operation of this law, jointly with that of the 
National Bank, which was now fast restoring order and health 
to the national currency, the whole face of the country was 
renewed, as is that of Nature by the dawn of Spring. All 
her great interests were aroused to life ; a vigorous, steady 
growth was induced ; and the happiness of prosperous indus- 
try was diffused all over the land. The manufacturers of the 
North now found a ready sale for their goods ; laborers full 
employment for their hands ; and the producing classes a 
brisk market for their surplus produce. By the introduction 
of labor-saving machinery, manufactured goods were soon af- 
forded at almost as low a cash price as those imported from 
England, while, in fact, taking into consideration the en- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 127 

hanced value of the fanner's products, and the profit of a mar- 
ket at home, established by the operation of the Tariff, they 
were far cheaper to the consumer than English goods had 
ever been. The manufactured article fell in the course of a 
few years to one-sixth of its former price ; the value of labor 
increased fourfold ; and the produce of the farmer and the 
staple of the planter increased, in worth, from 50 to 100 per 
cent. The home markets being protected from the floods of 
foreign goods, the currency of the country was kept at home, 
and business was thus saved from derangement and the in- 
dustry of the people from prostration. The South, while she 
found a market for a large amount of her cotton at the North, 
received in return manufactured goods, much cheaper than 
she had ever procured them from abroad. Land slowly but 
steadily rose in value ; domestic commerce increased largely 
in amount ; provision was made for the speedy extinction of 
the national debt ; and the prosperity of the people seemed 
placed upon a secure and permanent foundation. Such was 
the operation of the Tariff of 1824, as shown by the expe- 
rience of the seven years following its establishment ; and 
such will always be the effect produced by adequate Protec- 
tion to American Industry, if at the same time the currency 
of the country rest on a safe and healthful basis. 

The admission of Missouri as a State into the Union, was 
made, by its connection with the subject of Slavery, one of 
the most violently contested questions that ever agitated the 
councils of the nation. The name of Mr. Clay will for ever 
remain associated with it, from his efforts to allay the tempest 
which it aroused, and his successful exertions toward off from 
the Union the terrible danger which impended over it. A bill 
had been introduced into Congress, at the session of 1818-19, 



128 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

providing for the admission of Missouri, on condition that all 
children of slaves, born after the passage of the act, should 
be free, after reaching the age of twenty-five years, and that 
the further introduction of slavery should be prohibited. Af- 
ter a long and ardent debate, the bill, with the condition, was 
passed ; but, in the Senate, the condition was stricken out. 
The House refused to recede, and thus the bill was defeated. 
The excitement in Congress now infected the people, and 
during the recess the only topic that engaged general atten- 
tion throughout the Union, was the admission of Missouri. 
It was discussed, and resolved upon, by State Legislatures; 
travelling orators spread the flame and fed the fire already 
burning with portentous fury ; and the public press teemed 
witli violence and inflammation. The whole North arrayed 
itself against the admission, and claimed for Congress the 
right to forbid the introduction of slavery into any new State. 
The South denied this right, and planted themselves upon 
the Constitution of the Union. Under these circumstances, 
and in this state of public feeling, Congress convened in 
1819-20, and the discussion was renewed. Mr. Clay, with 
all his power, urged the admission, on the ground that to 
Missouri alone belonged the subject of her domestic slavery ; 
declaring at the same time, that, so great was his detestation 
of the system, were he a citizen of that State, he would never 
consent to a State Constitution which should not provide for 
its extinction. Above all things, he urged conciliation and 
compromise : for the safety of the Union was threatened, 
and the stability of this he deemed of paramount importance. 
A compromise, through his exertions, was finally effected : 
Committees of Conference were appointed, and an act was 
passed, authorizing Missouri to form a Constitution and State 
Government, and requiring that they should be Republican, 



MKMOIK OF HENRY CLAY. 129 

and " not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States." 
A final. vote, alter these preliminary steps should have been 
taken by the State, would still be necessary for her full ad- 
mission. In June, 1820, the people of the State proceeded 
to form a Constitution, and inserted a section, providing for 
the " exclusion of free negroes from the State." The State 
government thus went into operation, in secure confidence of 
her speedy admission into the Union. But the public press 
found yet ground for a renewal of the contest : the original 
opponents of the admission of Missouri, protested against 
the provision for the exclusion of free negroes from the 
State as a violation of that part of the constitution which 
gave to every citizen of any State the right to remove to, or 
travel in, every other State : and obedience to this consti- 
tution the act of Congress providing for the admission of Mis- 
souri had made imperative. On the other hand, it was main- 
tained, that the African race, bond or free, were not parties 
'0 our political institutions, and that free negroes were not, 
therefore, citizens, within the meaning of the Constitution : 
and furthermore, that, if they were, the provision in the State 
Constitution could be of no force — since it would be repug- 
nant to, and overruled by, that of tire nation. The perilous 
excitement with which the discussion of this question was 
again debated at the next session of Congress, had never been 
equaled by that of any other topic. Mr. Clay, intending to 
leave Congress, by reason of embarrassment in his private af- 
fairs, at the opening of the session resigned Ins office as Speak- 
er, and did not resume his scat in the House until the middle of 
January, 1821, when the discussion was at its height. Being 
fully aware of the nature of the issue to which the existing 
state of affairs was tending, and deeming no exertions too 
great to effect the peaceable settlement of the question, by 

17 



130 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

which alone the continuance of the Union could be secured, 
he moved the reference of the whole subject to a Select Com- 
mittee of thirteen. The proposition passed, and on the 10th 
of February, as Chairman of that Committee, he made an 
able Report, concluding with an amendment to the resolu- 
tion before the House, providing for the immediate admission 
of Missouri, on condition that she should never pass any laws 
preventing any description of persons, who were citizens of 
any other State, from coming into her territory; and requir 
ing the assent of the Legislature to this condition. Though 
this resolution placed the whole matter upon ground to which 
neither party could object, it still left the main question, 
whether free negroes were, or were not, citizens, to the de- 
cision of the proper tribunals. Mr. Clay urged its adoption, 
on the 12th, when it came before the Committee of the 
Whole, by strong arguments and by most earnest appeals to 
the patriotism of Congress. In committee, it was rejected, by 
a vote of 73 to 64 ; but, in the House, their decision was over- 
ruled, and the resolution passed to its third reading, when a 
a most violent and bitter debate ensued, and it. was lost by a 
vote of 83 to 80 ; brought about by the defection of Mr. Ran- 
dolph, who voted against it himself and procured a change 
of one or two other votes, expressly and avowedly on the 
ground, that its passage would, by increasing his popularity, 
secure the election of Mr. Clay to the Presidency of the 
United States. The next day, however, a re-consideration 
was carried ; the question again came up, and, in all its fierce 
personality and party bitterness, the debate was renewed. 
Mr. Clay maintained his ground with dignity and with great 
zeal. All his powers of argument and eloquent entreaty were 
exhausted in the high attempt to secure, by the settlement 
« the question, the peace of the country ; but all was to no 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 131 

purpose : the resolution again was lost. The situation into 
which this final rejection of all attempts at pacification threw 
the country, seemed at once to alarm even the most head- 
etrong and intemperate. It was known that propositions for 
steps, which must end in the dissolution of the Union, had 
been secretly and deliberately made, and this action of the 
House seemed to afford them a fair hope of success. A deep 
consciousness of the peril which thus overhung the country 
disposed Congress to avail itself of the aid of Mr. Clay, who 
was the only member of that body at once cool and power 
ful enough to devise any adequate expedient to rescue the 
nation from her dangerous position. After allowing this feel- 
ing of apprehension and alarm to acquire sufficient strength 
and permanence, Mr. Clay introduced a resolution simply 
providing for the appointment of a joint committee, to con- 
sult with a like committee from the Senate, upon the expe- 
diency of the admission of Missouri into the Union. In the 
House the motion was instantly and eagerly passed, by a vote 
of 103 to 55, and in the Senate it prevailed by a large ma- 
jority. The joint committee met, and with great unanimity 
followed the lead of Mr. Clay, who, the next day, reported 
a resolution precisely like the one before rejected. By a vote 
of 87 to 81 it was at once adopted by the House, and the 
Senate soon concurred. Thus was settled, solely by the ex- 
ertions of Mr. Clay, one of the most portentous disputes ever 
known in our history. The question in itself was calculated, 
more than any other, to arouse all the bitterness and ani- 
mosity of the members of Congress, from different sections 
of the Union, and the manner in which it was discussed by 
the factious and unprincipled, left little room to hope for an 
amicable adjustment. At no time, however, did Mr. Clat 
despair of the Republic, or relax his efforts to avert from it the 



132 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

fearful danger which'menaced its existence. By personal 
and private entreaty, as well as by his great exertions on the 
floor of Congress, he sought to restore that harmony and good 
will without which he saw no good could possibly be effected. 
That he was successful, was owing to the pure patriotism and 
the commanding ability of his labors ; and for this one act 
alone, were it the only one, as it is but one of a thousand, 
by which his long public career has been illustrated, he 
would deserve the profoundest gratitude of the country he so 
successfully labored to save. 

In the summer of 1823 Mr. Clay was re-elected to Con- 
gress, without opposition ; and on taking his seat, upon the 
first ballot he was chosen Speaker — receiving 139 votes, while 
Hon. P. P. Barbour, his opponent, received but 42. It was 
at this session, as we have already seen, that the revision of 
the Tariff of 1816, with the establishment of the Protective 
System, and the recognition of South American Indepen- 
dence, both measures, in the passage of which Mr. Clay had 
taken a prominent and most efficient part, were effected. At 
this session, also, was discussed the resolution introduced by 
Mr. Webster, and urged by him in one of the ablest speeches 
ever pronounced in Congress, providing for the recognition 
of the Independence of Greece. It received the cordial sup- 
port of Mr. Clay, but failed of success. His labors at this 
session, though most arduous and perplexing, had been de- 
liberately chosen, in preference to higher and more honored 
stations. Although between himself and President Monroe, 
upon many important questions, a serious difference of opin 
ion existed, he had been offered a seat in the Cabinet and a 
carte blanche of all the foreign missions. He declined all these 
proffered honors, from a settled conviction that he could be 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 133 

employed with more benefit to the country, whose service 
was his highest ambition, in her halls of legislation. 

The Presidential election of 1825 was now at hand. As} 
early as 1822 preferences had been avowed for particular can- 
didates in various parts of the country. The Legislatures of 
several of the States had formally nominated Mr. Clay for 
that high office, and the names of Messrs. John Quincy Ad- 
ams, Andrew Jackson, and W. H. Crawford, were before 
the public as his competitors. The canvass was conducted 
with great earnestness, and towards the close of December, 
1824, it was well understood that there was no choice by the 
people, and that Jackson, Adams, and Crawford, were the 
candidates returned to the House by the Electoral Colleges. 
Into the intrigues, by which Mr. Clay was excluded, had we 
the desire, we have not the space, to enter. It is a fact, as 
undeniable as it is lamentable, that the highest, as well as 
*he lowest offices, theoretically in the gift of the people, are 
often made the prizes of dexterous political gamblers, whose 
lack of principle, and ability for intrigue, are the instruments 
of their selfishness and ambition. It has been said, that by 
corrupt bribery the electoral vote of New York, which was 
confessedly in favor of Mr. Clay, was secured to Mr. Craw- 
ford ; and the bearing of facts known to exist, tends to es- 
tablish the truth of the charge. The result of the election 
was, that General Jackson received 99 votes, Mr. Adams 84, 
and Mr. Crawford 41 : the choice of course devolved upon 
the House of Representatives ; and as a member of that 
House whose vote would in effect decide the question, Mr. 
Clay was placed in a delicate and responsible position. He 
was called upon to decide which of the three, who had been 
his rivals, should be elected. To his personal friends his 



134 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

preference had long been known. To the whole Congree 
gional Delegation from Kentucky, and to many eminent citi- 
zens of that State, he had months before avowed it. But 
obvious propriety prevented his proclaiming it in public ; and 
he accordingly maintained a decorous silence upon the sub- 
ject. Of this his enemies sought to take advantage, either 
by force to drive him into their support, or, by crushing and 
destroying him, to revenge themselves for his opposition. 
The device was eminently worthy the men in whose hearts 
it was formed ; and none but those who believe in the doc- 
trine of total depravity, in its full extent, will hesitate to re- 
gard, as a strange and seldom recurring epoch, that age which 
could give birth at once to malevolence sufficiently intense 
to devise, and wickedness base enough to execute, so foul a plot. 
A letter, now known to have been the result of a conspiracy, 
was published in Philadelphia, purporting to have been writ- 
ten by a member of Congress, stating, without reserve or quali- 
fication, that overtures had been made to the friends of Mr. 
Clay, offering to him the Secretaryship of State, for his aid 
in electing Mr. Adams, and that ihey had been instantly ac- 
cepted. Mr. Clay instantly denied the charge, in most 
pointed and indignant terms ; and his Card was answered by 
a Mr. George Kremer, member of the House from Pennsyl- 
vania, who was afterwards proved to have been the pliant 
tool of his employers, and who avowed himself the author 
of the letter and declared that he stood ready to prove the 
allegations. Mr. Clay demanded of the House a Committee 
of Inquiry, before whom Mr. Kremer might be heard, and 
where he could meet any accusation that any man might 
make. The committee was granted, and on the 5th of Feb 
ruary, 1825, it was appointed by ballot — not a single membei 
being a political friend of Mr. Clay. But the malignant pur 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 135 

poses of the conspirators had been answered. They had laid 
a foundation for a superstructure of calumny before which, 
they flattered themselves, no purity or integrity could stand. 
To prosecute the matter further, and especially to prosecute 
it with a sincere desire to evolve the truth, would not only 
defeat their main object, but prove dangerous to themselves ; 
as k might result in one of those catastrophes by which, some- 
times, the 

" Engineer is houst by his own petard." 

They had done enough, they thought, if anything could do 
it, to drive Mr. Clay into the support of General Jackson ; 
and here, for the present, they sought to let the matter rest. 
The committee, therefore, made report that Mr. Kremer de- 
clined to appear before them, on the ground that the affair 
was one over which the House had no control ; and they, of 
their own knowledge, knew no reason why they should ex- 
ercise their power of compelling testimony : they therefore 
chose to let the matter drop. It is difficult to detect, by the 
most subtle analysis of the human character, any base feeling 
which did not evidently enter into this conspiracy. Mr. 
Kremer was a man too utterly weak to be bold and consis- 
tent, even in wickedness ; and it required all the strategy of 
his employers to prevent his prematurely exploding the whole 
affair. He frequently declared his determination to offer an 
explanation and apology to Mr. Clay ; and had gone so far 
as to draw up a paper for this purpose, which was submitted 
to him. He replied, however, that the affair had passed 
from his control into that of the House : and Mr. Kremer's 
friends took care that his attempts to break from the toils 
they had woven around him, should not be repeated. Thus 



136 MEMOIR OF HLNRY CLAY. 

the matter tested : and the House was called upon to choose 
a President. That Mr. Clay would vote for Gen. Jack- 
son, notwithstanding the attempt to dragoon him into his sup- 
port, no one who remembered the manner in which he had 
arraigned his conduct in the Seminole campaign, and the 
grounds on which he had then based his violent censure, 
eouldfor one moment anticipate. He had repeatedly declar- 
ed, that in no case, short of absolute necessity, would he do 
it. General Jackson himself, according to the testimony of 
his friend, Gen. Call, did not expect it; and had he done 
so, he would not only have incurred the contempt of every 
man of every party, but, as he himself has said, he would 
most richly have deserved it. Mr. Crawford he did not 
choose to support, for the simple reason, that, as he had sat- 
isfied himself, by a personal visit, his health and physical 
abilities were not competent to the discharge of the arduous 
duties of the office. He had been a paralytic for more than 
two years, and therefore seemed out of the question to 
Mr. Clay. Of course, then, he must vote for Mr. Adams, 
against whom, moreover, he could have no possible objec- 
tion. He had long known him as a statesman of rare ability 
and of undoubted integrity ; and upon only a single point, — 
that involved in their joint discussions at Ghent, — had any 
difference of opinion arisen between them. He knew him, 
also, as the unwavering friend of the system of Protection, 
and of Internal Improvement : and both the others he knew 
to be hostile to those great measures of public policy. He 
13 accordingly gave his vote for Mr. Adams, who was elected: 
and, as a pledge of his sincerity in upholding his principles, 
and in utter scorn of the attempts which had been made to 
terrify him from that course, he forthwith accepted the office 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 137 

of Secretary of State, which the President immediately placed 
in his hands. 

Thus foiled in their principal purpose, the enemies of Mr. 
Clay addressed themselves, with redoubled malignity, to the 
work of revenge. Though they had not been able to drive 
him into the support of General Jackson, or to terrify him 
from an active participation in the administration of Presi- 
dent Adams, they still deemed themselves sufficiently pow- 
erful to blast his name, and to cast a stain upon his honor, 
which years could not efface. They felt, too, his power as 
an opponent : and they despaired of destroying the adminis- 
tration — which was now their cherished purpose — unless they 
could first ruin him, its strong defence. General Jackson, who 
was even then considered by the opposition their candidate 
at the next election, knew too well the estimation in which 
his public services were held by Mr. Clay, to hope for a mo- 
ment that he could ever be brought to his support. With 
alacrity, therefore, he placed himself at the head of that foul 
crew, who made it their business to vilify and defame the 
object of their hate and dread. Very soon after the election, 
he began to assert, in private circles, that he might have had 
the support of Mr. Clay, if he would have consented to give 
him the Secretaryship. Presently the insinuations, which 
had been clandestinely made, assumed a more tangible 
shape. On the 8th of March, 1825, a letter was published, 
written by a Mr. Beverly, purporting to state the substance 
of a conversation held by the writer with Gen. Jackson, at his 
own house, in which the latter distinctly said, that the friends 
of Mr. Clay had made to him, explicitly, the offer of their 
support, on condition that he should not continue Mr. 
Adams as Secretary of State. This letter afforded all the 

18 



138 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

ground needed, by the enemies of Mr. Clay, for more than 
two years of industrious slander. At the end of that time, 
however, they felt the need of a reinforcement, and prevailed 
upon General Jackson himself to lend confirmation, over his 
own name, to the contents of the letter. In the form of a 
reply, dated June 5th, 1827, he directly charged the friends 
of Mr. Clay with having made the alledged proposition, 
through a distinguished member of Congress ; and accompa- 
nied his allegation with insinuations that the offer was made 
by the authority of Mr. Clay. He proceeded at some length 
to detail the reply he gave, which was to the effect that, be- 
fore he would accept the offer, " he would see the earth open 
and swallow both Mr. Clay, and his friends, and himself with 
them," which was beyond doubt literally true ; as the offer 
never would have been made, even to save him from so dire 
an emergency. Mr. Clay immediately demanded the name 
of the " distinguished member of Congress," through whom 
the overtures had been made, and received from Gen. Jack- 
son the name of Mr. Buchanan, of Pennsylvania. Thus pub- 
licly called upon, Mr. Buchanan, although a personal and 
political friend of Gen. Jackson, did not hesitate flatly to con- 
tradict the statement. He denied having made any such 
offer, and said that in the only conversation he ever had with 
Gen. Jackson on the subject of retaining Mr. Adams as Sec- 
retary of State, " he had not the most distant idea that the 
General believed, or suspected, he came on behalf of Mr. 
Clay or of his friends." Thus the assertion of Jackson was 
i not only left unsupported, but shown, by his own witness, 
to be a naked falsehood : but it was made by a distinguished 
man, and still carried with it some degree of weight. En- 
forced as it was by the whole opposition press in the Union, 
which circulated the charge and oftentimes purposely sap- 



MIM01R OF HENRY CLAY. 139 

pressed the disproval, it produced in the public mind a deep 
prejudice against Mr. Clay, which years were not able to 
uproot. In January, 1828, Mr. Clay published, in a pam- 
phfet, a full examination of the slanderous charges, and 
brought forward an irresistible array of evidence, that he had, 
long before the alledged offer was said to have been made, 
repeatedly expressed his determination in no case to vote for 
Gen. Jackson for the Presidency, but to cast his vote for Mr. 
Adams. By all men of honesty and candor, it was deemed a 
triumphant vindication ; and even those who allowed them- 
selves still to cherish a suspicion against Mr. Clay, were de- 
prived of their only show of evidence, by a letter from Mr. 
Beverley, in 1841, explicitly admitting that, for the tade of 
a conversation with Gen. Jackson, concerning the alledged 
overture, to which he had first given currency, in his pub- 
lished letter of 1825, there was not the slightest foundation 
in truth. 
■ 

This wretched calumny has now had its day. Sustained, 
as for many years it was, by the testimony of men distin- 
guished in the history of the country, it has had great influ- 
ence with those upon whom it was intended to operate. For 
many years it has seriously injured the political reputation 
of Mr. Clay, and has, beyond all doubt, in a good degree 
served the purpose for which it was invented. It has been 
repeatedly disproved so clearly, that few men will now risk 
their reputation for sanity so far as to profess in it a particle 
of belief. President Adams has declared it to be totally un- 
founded, and every shadow of proof by which it was sought 
to be sustained, has been swept away for ever. Many of the 
men who were foremost in giving it weight yet live — some 
still in the public councils, and others in the retirement of 



140 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

private life. It is to be hoped that this portion of their pub 
lie career lives fresh in their recollection : and that it receives 
from their consciences the reward it so richly merits. 

The opposition which the administration of President Ad- 
ams encountered, was, perhaps, more fierce and unprincipled 
than has been urged against any other in our history. Fore- 
most among its assailants, as he had always been of Mr. 
Clay, was Mr. Randolph, the frequency and character of 
whose attacks we have had occasion to remark. The cal- 
umny breathed against the object of his hate, was precisely 
to his taste : and he lost no opportunity of giving to it all pos- 
sible bitterness. Holding a seat in Congress, he had a fa- 
vorable opportunity, in the absence of Mr. Clay — whom he 
feared as well as hated — to repeat his coarse libels ; and he 
availed himself of it to the utmost possible extent. He was 
accustomed to introduce into almost every one of his frequent 
and desultory harangues, abuse of Mr. Clay, as bitter and 
personally offensive as his genius, peculiarly fitted for the 
work, could devise. The charge of corruption, which had 
been so zealously hinted, furnished him food for unlimited 
declamation ; and on one occasion, which we note as a spe- 
cimen of his usual tone of remark, he denounced the friend- 
ship of the President and Mr. Clay, as a " coalition of Blifii 
and Black George," a "combination of the Puritan with the 
Blackleg." It is not at all surprising that language like this 
should have stung the object of it to the most deadly resent- 
ment. It resulted in a duel, in which neither party was even 
wounded. This act of Mr. Clay calls for no special com- 
ment. The principle of dueling is generally understood, 
though, unfortunately, not so generally condemned. It is 
the nature of an upright mind to feel, most deeply, an impu- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY, 141 

lation upon its integrity, and to count any sacrifice, that of 
life itself, as a slight price for its vindication. This feeling, 
instinctive in every breast is an exalted tribute to the dignity 
of virtue, most honorable to the character of man. Amid all 
his weakness and his sin, it proves more clearly than reason- 
ing could do it, the existence within him of a high ideal of 
integrity and truth. The feeling of insult springs from Honor, 

" the finest sense 
Of Justice which the human mind can frame/' 

The desire to revenge it, has its source in malignant pas- 
sion, the curse of human nature, the bitter fruit of a deprav- 
ed Will. Religion, Morality and the highest Prudence alike 
condemn it ; and yet oftentimes men of the greatest virtue 
fall into this lowest vice. " Condemned, as it must be," says 
Mr. Clay, " by the judgement and philosophy, to say nothing 
of the religion of every thinking man, dueling is an affair 
of feeling, about which we cannot, although we should, rea- 
son. The true corrective will be found, when all shall unite, 
as all ought to unite, in its unqualified proscription. ? ' This 
sounds like the plea of weakness — unworthy a man of prin- 
ciple and strength. There are men who find no insuperable 
difficulty in reasoning upon their feelings, and in obeying 
the dictates of judgement and of conscience. They are men 
of higher courage than the duelist: for they face not the 
weapon of an antagonist, but the fierceness of their passions 
and the scorn of society. We deem it, then, a. mark of 
weakness in Mr. Clay to have fought with Randolph : but 
we cannot forget that it is a weakness from which few men 
in any age have been exempt. 

The duties of Secretary of State w«re discharged by Mr. 



142 MEMOIR OF HENHY £&AY. 

Clay with the same distinguished ability, which had marked 
all his public life. His health was very delicate, and on this 
account alone he at one time intended to resign. j 

He kept his seat, however, and with wonderful labor and 
industry discharged its offices with the highest honor to the 
country he served. He availed himself of the opportunity 
his position afforded, to carry out still more fully the designs 
he had long cherished with regard to the independence and 
prosperity of the South American Republics. The powers 
of Europe had evinced a disposition hostile to these govern- 
ments ; and as a step of self-protection, they had invited a 
Congress to be composed of delegates from Mexico, Colom- 
bia and Central America ; and sought also an association with 
the United States. Although the intentions of the proposed 
Congress were not satisfactorily explained, our government 
thought it impolitic to refuse ; and Hon. John Serceant and 
Richard C. Anderson, were appointed Commissioners. It 
was thought advisable, however, to give them very minute 
instructions as to their duties and the general principles upon 
which all their acts were to be based. The preparation of 
this document was committed to Mr. Clay : and, in every 
respect, it is among the proudest monuments of his great 
ability, and of the true republican spirit which has always 
guided his public conduct. In furtherance of the same phi- 
lanthropic design, Mr. Clay addressed a letter, which is 
among the most important state papers in the archives of 
the country, to our minister at Russia, urging the Emperor to 
use all his influence toward putting a period to the war be- 
tween Spain and her American Colonies, and indirectly ask- 
ing his friendly interference in behalf of Greece, then strug- 
gling to break from Turkish tyranny. Both these worthy 



MEMOIR O*' HENBY CLAY. 143 

purposes were successfully accomplished. The Russian 
minister at the Court of Spain was instructed to use his best 
exertions to effect a pacification between that nation and her 
lolonies, and it was not long before their full independence 
wras acknowledged by the mother country. 

It is said, that during the official term of Mr. Clay, a grea- 
ter number of treaties with foreign powers were concluded 
at Washington than had ever before been made at that capi- 
tal. Instead of sending ministers abroad to treat with other 
nations, the strength and dignity with which the duties of the 
Secretaryship were discharged, drew to the seat of our own 
government those with whom relations of amity were to be 
established. His ability in conducting these negociations 
had been fully proved during the discussion of the treaty of 
Ghent : and the easy grace mingled with the most perfect 
dignity, by which all his official intercourse with others was 
marked, commanded, as it received, the unbounded admira- 
tion of all with whom he came in contact. We have not 
space, nor is it necessary, to examine the character of the 
various treaties which were concluded under his auspices. 
They relate mainly to our commercial interests, and are 
marked by the zeal he manifested in behalf of our rights and 
by the earnestness and enlightened liberality with which he 
sought to establish among all commercial nations, the system 
of perfect reciprocity. He believed that, in respect to our 
commerce and navigation, the United States had reached a 
position, where they could safely and profitably treat with 
foreign powers, on terms of perfect equality, and that, unlike 
our manufactures, which were in their infancy, to our com- 
mercial interests might well be allowed the utmost freedom. 
The principle had been mutually adopted in the London 



144 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

treaty of commerce of 1815, that the merchant vessels of the 
two countries, with their cargoes, should be received into 
each other's ports on terms of entire equality ; but a stipula- 
tion was annexed, that the vessels of the two countries should 
only import the productions of those countries. Mr. Clay 
sought to abolish this restriction ; and in the treaties which 
he concluded with the South American Republics it was 
successfully accomplished : so that whatever an American 
•vessel can import, may, without reference to its place of 
growth or manufacture, be imported by the vessels of the 
party with whom we contract. The principle of these trea- 
ties is believed to be essentially sound, and although it has 
been severely censured by eminent statesmen, and especial- 
ly by Mr. Webster in his speech at Faneuil Hall, in Boston, 
on the 30th of September 1842, no facts have been submit- 
ted sufficient to disprove it, or to excite distrust of its sound 
economy. It was likewise opposed by Great Britain, as 
might be expected from the selfish legislation by which she 
has always sought to maintain her maritime supremacy,'. 
She declined its acceptance, when, in accordance with the 
instructions of Mr. Clay, it was proposed by Mr. Gallatin. 

The canvass for the Presidential contest of 1828, was com- 
menced immediately after the inauguration of President 
Adams, by the friends of General Jackson. His military 
fame — founded solely upon the brilliant victory of New Or- 
leans, had been found so available in a popular struggle, 
as to make it at once evident that upon him all the power 
of the opposition would unite. The administration was as- 
sailed, by a concerted movement from eveiy part of the coun- 
try, with a reckless violence seldom equalled, and with a dis- 
regard of fairness and truth, which could not possibly be stir- 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 145 

passed. The grossest charges of extravagance and corrnp 
tion were framed and industriously circulated ; opprobrious 
party epithets were coined or revived, and all the enginery of 
political warfare was brought into active requisition. It was 
foreseen, at an early day, that Mr. Ai)j>.M8 could not be re 
elected. Popular prejudice — the most formidable^ because the 
least tangible, opponent a public man has to encounter — bad 
been aroused against him ; and it was seen that, " though pure, 
as the angels of Heaven," his administration was destined to 
be destroyed. The election was held in the autumn of 1828, 
and resulted in the election of Gen. Jackson by a large ma- 
jority. The administration of Mr. Adams had been marked 
by a political purity and a patriotic devotion to the welfare 
of the country, only paralleled by that of the early days of 
the Republic. In his distribution of official patronage, one 
of the most powerful instruments in the hands of the Execu- 
tive, he had scrupulously rejected all party or personal con 
siderations : he dismissed no man for his political opinions, 
but allowed the opposition a full share in the executive re- 
sponsibilities of the government. Every department had 
been conducted with the strictest economy. In all our for 
eign relations, the dignity and welfare of the nation had been 
preserved unimpaired ; our commercial interests had been ex- 
tended, and in all our domestic affairs the most sedulous regard 
had been manifested to the good of the nation. But never 
was virtue any security against calumny and detraction. The 
etorm which assailed the President had its birth in the foul- 
ness of the political atmosphere, and its fury proved too 
potent for resistance. Well is it for the deserving and the 
good, that posterity cannot be blinded by prejudice and pas- 
sion. By its own nature a lie must perish, while political 
purity, like morai tiuth, receives heightened lustre from the 

19 



146 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

lapse of years. Even the eyes of the present generation look 
back upon the administration of President Adams with sad- 
ness and regret ; for they behold integrity now lost, and high 
worth trampled beneath the feet of the selfish and the base. 
Well was it said, by one of the elder Poets, 

"What "War leaves scarlets. Calumny confounds ; 
Truth lies entrapped, where Cunning finds no bar." 

Tn March, 1829, General Jackson entered upon the duties 
of the Presidential office. On the day previous to his inaug- 
uration, Mr. Clay resigned his office as Secretary of State ; 
and yielded to the wishes of a great number of his friends 
that he should receive the compliment of a public dinner. 
In reply to a complimentary toast, he made a brief and elo- 
quent speech, in which he submitted his public conduct to 
the judgment of l)is country, and spoke, frankly and cour- 
teously, of the citizen who had just been raised to the highest 
office in the nation. The terms in which he predicted the 
disastrous results of that election, are worthy of special atten- 
tion : no considerate man will fail to observe the exactness 
with which they have been justified and fulfilled by subse- 
quent events. On his journey to his home, in Kentucky, he 
received everywhere the most marked testimonials of public 
honor and approbation. At Frederick, in Maryland, and at 
Wheeling, he received magnificent complimentary festivals, 
and frankly avowed his political opinions and vindicated his 
public conduct in extended remarks on both occasions. He 
was received at Lexington with all the honors of a triumphal 
entry ; and wherever he went, the same manifestations of 
popular regard and affection waited upon his steps. 

In the autumn of 1831, after a retirement of about two 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 147 

years, spent in professional pursuits, Mr. Clay was re-elected 
by the Legislature of Kentucky to the Senate of the United 
States : and, at about the same time he was nominated for 
the Presidency at the next election, in opposition to General 
Jackson, by a National Convention held at Baltimore. The 
administration had at that time laid the foundation of 
a strong but blind popularity — the natural result of bold and 
vigorous measures, unfounded though they were upon a sin- 
gle principle of sound political economy ; and most inimical, 
as subsequent events have proved them to be, to the best and 
most vital interests of the country. A ruthless proscription 
of political opponents, was among the first official acts of 
General Jackson : the Executive patronage was made an 
engine of party warfare ; and thus was planted the root of 
political depravity, which has since sprung into such Ci foul 
flowering," and overspread the nation with its deadly shade. 
The power of the President had become, in Congress, almost 
resistless. The majority were but the obedient servants of 
his will ; and while in theory he avowed himself a co-ordinate 
branch, in practice he proved the controlling head, of the 
legislative department of the government. At the time of 
Mr. Clay's entry upon his Senatorial duties, the subject of 
the tariff was again engrossing the attention of Congress and 
of the nation. The President was an insidious opponent of 
the Protective system, and evinced a disposition to secure its 
abandonment. Leading, as he did, the legislation of Con- 
gress, there was great reason to fear that his efforts would 
prove successful. But a more instant danger impended from 
the growing discontent of the South. Their staple was cot- 
ton, for which they had, up to that time, found their princi- 
pal market in England ; and they were indignant at the im- 
position of duties upon the cotton stuffs they received in re- 



148 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

turn. The tariff, they alledged, operated against their peculiar 
interest, and they avowed an intention to resist its injunctions, 
unless it was modified in accordance with their views. Though 
willing to make all reasonable sacrifices for the peace and 
welfare of every portion of his country, Mr. Clay could not 
consent to the surrender of the Protective policy ; and on the 
9th of January, 1832, he introduced a resolution, providing 
for the reduction of duties on all articles except silks and 
wines, which did not come into competition with similar arti- 
cles produced or manufactured in the United States. He sus- 
tained his resolution in an eloquent speech, firmly upholding 
the policy of Protection, and justifying the concessions he 
felt disposed to make to the demands of the South. In an- 
swer to Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, who replied to his 
speech, Mr. Clay delivered his great defence of the Ameri- 
can System, against the British Colonial System ; in which, 
by the soundest argument, as well as by the most abundant 
historical evidence, he sustained, against the advocates of 
Free Trade, the doctrines he had always and with so much 
earnestness, upheld and defended. It was continued through 
several days, and is, perhaps, the most full and conclusive 
argument in defence of the Protective System to which easy 
reference can now be made. On the 13th of March, Mr. 
Dickerson, from the Committee on Manufactures, reported 
a bill, conformed to the principles of Mr. Clay's resolution. 
It was discussed with great animation, and finally became a 
law in July, 1832. 

This bill did not satisfy the South. It preserved all the 
essential features of the Protective System, and it was against 
this that their hate was enlisted. They declared their deter 
mination to disregard the law, and proclaimed the right of 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 149 

every State, at its pleasure, to render null and void any act 
of the Federal Congress. South Carolina placed herself at 
the head of this movement of disunion, and on the 19th of 
November, 1S32, a State Convention assembled at Columbia 
to deliberate upon the aspect of affairs. An ordinance was 
passed on the 14th, declaring the tariff laws unconstitutional 
and utterly null and void. The proceedings of this conven- 
tion were soon after ratified by the Legislature, and an oath 
act was passed, requiring every officer of the State, civil or 
military, solemnly to swear that he would " well and truly 
obey, execute and enforce the ordinance to nullify certain 
acts of the Congress of the United States." Provision was 
made for armed resistance to all attempts to enforce these 
laws ; the co-operation of the other Southern States was soli- 
cited ; hints were thrown out that the alliance of Great 
Britain would be invited ; and the enemies of freedom and 
self-government throughout the world began to rejoice at the 
expected dissolution of the American Union. A proclama- 
tion was issued by President Jackson, denouncing the doc- 
trines of Nullification, and declaring that the whole military 
power of the Union should be used to crush armed resistance 
to the laws of the United States. A counter proclamation 
from the Governor of South Carolina followed, exhorting the 
citizens of that State to disregard utterly the threats of the 
President, and to prepare for resistance by force to the ob- 
noxious laws. 

Thus was civil war threatened, and the existence of the 
Onion menaced. Upon which side the right would have 
been, no man can for a moment doubt. The course of the 
President, so far as it proclaimed his intention to support the 
laws of the Union, met, as it deserved, unanimous applause. 



160 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

But, though thus willing" to suppress insurrection, the ad- 
ministration wished to surrender the principle of Protec- 
tion, and thus to yield all that was asked to the insurgent 
State. In the early part of the session Mr. McLane, the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, had submitted a report, recommend- 
ing the abandonment of the Protective System, as conferring 
undue advantage upon the manufacturing interests, and the 
reduction of the duties to a strictly revenue standard ; and he 
deemed $12,000,000 a sufficient amount. The report was 
referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and on the 
27th of December, Mr. Verplanck, from that committee, re- 
ported a bill embracing the principles of that Report, and 
recommending, in detail, a scale of duties in accordance 
therewith. It reduced the duties on imported goods to an 
average of not more than 15 per cent. — upon the foreign 
valuation — and surrendered the principle of Protection as 
completely as Nullification itself could desire. 

Here was a crisis which involved the best interests of the 
nation, and which called upon every statesman for his most 
zealous efforts. Mr. Clay was fully aroused to the impor- 
tance of speedy and efficient action, and his great abili- 
ties were quite equal to the emergency. He beheld the 
American System, of which he was the author and defender, 
in danger of destruction, from two opposing quarters — the ad- 
ministration of President Jackson, and the Nullification of 
South Carolina. Both were alike hostile to it, but both were 
also hostile to each other. He resolved, therefore, to 
effect a compromise and to bring forward a bill, which, while 
it should satisfy the enemies of the Tariff, by a great reduc- 
tion of the duty, should, at the same time, by its gradual 
operation, secure the American Laborer from the ruin which 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 151 

must instantly overwhelm him, in the event of the passage 
of Mr. Verplanck's bill, and the people of his beloved coun- 
try against the horrors of civil war which would follow its de- 
feat and the enforcement of the proclamation of the Presi- 
dent. He submitted to his friends his proposed plan. He 
consulted, as to its operation upon the great interests of the 
country with the principal business men throughout the Union; 
he took the advice of Hon. J. M. Clayton, of Delaware, 
Mr. Simmons, of Rhode Island, Senator Johnston, and many 
other political men, all of whom gave it their warmest and 
most undivided approval. Mr. Webster disliked it, and 
refused it his support. He was not disposed, he said, to en- 
ter into the proposed treaty. If the people wanted a Tariff, 
they would sustain it: if not, it could not be sustained at all. 
After he had prepared the bill, Mr. Clay submitted it to Mr. 
Calhoun, one of the most prominent of the Nullifiers. He 
also, through mutual friends, ascertained that all the South- 
ern members, as he had supposed they would be, were fa- 
vorably disposed towards it, from their deep dislike of the 
President. From any one but him, they were prepared to 
iisten to propositions for a compromise. On the 12th of Feb- 
ruary, 1833, then, Mr. Clay introduced his Compromise Bill, 
providing for a gradual reduction of duties until 1842, when 
20 per cent, at a home valuation should be the rate, " until 
otherwise regulated by law.'' He introduced it by some 
brief, temperate and influential remarks upon the general 
state of the country, and especially upon the instant danger 
by which the Tariff was threatened. He deprecated the 
bitter turmoil and strife by which the country had been dis- 
tracted upon the subject, and appealed, earnestly and patheti- 
cally, to the patriotism of Congress, to consider the measure 
he submitted in no party aspect, but as a sinceie offering to 



152 MEMOIR OF HENRT CLAY. 

the welfare and interests of the nation. The bill was deba- 
ted for a long time. All heartily approved the feelings which 
had evidently dictated the introduction of the measure, though 
it met with strenuous opposition from various quarters. Mr. 
Forsyth spoke in tones of exultation of the admission of Mr. 
Clay, that the Tariff was in danger: " it is," said he, "at 
its last gasp — no hellebore can cure it." Mr. Smith, of Ma- 
ryland, opposed it because it "contained nothing but Protec- 
tion from beginning to end." Mr. Calhoun spoke in the 
most handsome terms of the motives which had prompted to 
the introduction of the bill, and entirely approved the prin- 
ciple of an ad valorem system. He trusted, he said, that all 
difficulties would be adjusted, " without at all yielding the 
constitutional question as to the right of Protection." Much 
opposition was made to the introduction of the bill at all, and 
when it was fairly before the Senate, from the Committee, it 
was debated with great spirit for many days. Mr. Clay, 
throughout the discussion, remained perfectly cool, and urged 
its adoption with all his powers of argument and eloquence. 
He was greatly aided by several Senators who entered hear- 
tily into his views and gave the bill their zealous support. 
The Southern Senators opposed it mainly because it required 
a home valuation : this Mr. Clay insisted on, and they final- 
ly, though with evident reluctance, yielded. Towards the 
close of the debate, a personal difficulty arose between Mr. 
Poindexter, of Mississippi, and Mr. Webster. The former, 
in the course of his reply to a very powerful attack from Mr. 
Webster upon the Compromise Bill of Mr. Clay, made ref- 
erence to the course of Mr. W., during the war of 1812. Mr. 
Webster declined all explanation, and Mr. Poindexter im- 
mediately declared, that he " felt the most perfect contempt 
for the Senator from Massachusetts." Mr. Clay interfered, 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 153 

with his usual generosity, and in a few remarks, complimen- 
tary alike to both Senators, effected a mutually satisfactory 
explanation. The bill finally passed the Senate by the fol- 
lowing vote : 



Yeas — Messrs. Bell, Bibb, Black, Calhoun, Chambers, Clay, 
Clayton, Ewing, Foot, Forsyth, Frelinghuysen, Grundy, Hill, Holmes 
Johnston, King, Mangum, Miller, Moore, Naudain, Poindexter, 
Rives, Robinson, Sprague, Tomlinsou, Tyler, Waggaman, White, 
Wright— 29. 



Nays — Messrs. Benton, Buckner, Dallas, Dickerson, Dudley, 
Hendricks, Knight, Prentiss, Robbins, Ruggles, Seymour, Silsbee, 
Smith, Tipton, Webster, Wilkins — 16. 



In the House it passed by a vote of 120 to 84, and soon 
became a law. 

The importance of this Act will never be properly estima- 
ted, because it was simply a measure of prevention ; and the 
horror of the storm which it hushed can never be known, 
sjince it was not allowed to burst. At the time of its enact- 
ment, however, the whole Union resounded with rejociing. 
The moral terrors of a civil war were deeply, intensely felt, 
although they were not seen : and there was not a heart 
throughout the land which was not filled with gratitude to 
Henry Clay for his great aid at this moment of fearful periL 
Even his most bitter enemies, at that day, were forced to 
acknowledge the merit of the deed ; and though some op- 
posed the act, few ventured to impugn the motives of the 
man who had brought it forward and urged it to a law. Men 
of all parties, from that day to this, have united in approving 
his course ; and it was with no slight surprise that the friends 
of both these distinguished statesmen heard from the lips of 

20 



154 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

Mr. Wicbster, at Boston, on the 30th of September, 1842 
pointed insinuations against the personal motives of Mr. 
Clay, and open and severe denunciation of the objects the 
bill was ostensibly designed to reach. It is not our purpose, 
as it does not become us, to say more of that singular speech, 
in this place : but it may not be amiss to state, as collected 
from his own remarks and the circumstances of the case, 
what were the prominent reasons for the proposal and adop- 
tion of the Compromise Act. 

In the first place, the American System was in danger of 
instant destruction. The bill of Mr. Verplanck, with its 
average 15 per cent, ad valorem duties, upon a foreign valua- 
tion, would effectually have crushed it for ever. A manu- 
facturing capital of one hundred millions would have been 
utterly sunk : the whole industry of the land would have 
been blasted ; and one of the most fearful changes in th*j 
whole policy of our government would suddenly, and with 
out warning, have been introduced. This bill was before the 
House while Mr. CLAY'swas in the Senate. That it wot. 
pass, if his failed, no one doubted. That Gen. Jackson fa- 
vored it, would have ensured its passage ; and that he did 
so, is established by the most undoubted evidence. Hon. 
Hugh L. White has given his testimony before a Committee 
of the House, that, when it devolved upon him as President 
pro tempore of the Senate, to appoint a Committee to whom 
the Compromise Bill should be referred, President Jackson 
personally urged him to make up that Committee of members 
favorable to Mr. Verplanck's bill, and thus to ensure its pas- 
sage. What, in such a posture of public affairs, could be 
done 1 A high tariff could not be thought of, nor could the 
existing laws remain in force. There was this plain alterna 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 155 

live : either to adopt Mr. VERPLANCK'sbill and abandon Pro- 
tection for ever, or procure a respite, harmonize the country, 
restore tranquillity, and trust to nine years, experience and 
the sound sense of the country for the result. The last was 
the course which Mr. Clay adopted. He hoped thus, as he 
said himself, to " place the system on a secure basis, — to 
plant it in the bosoms and affections of the people." He did 
not intend it for a permanent settlement of the tariff question : 
but only for an expedient to postpone such a settlement until 
the less excited condition, and the increased experience of 
the country, should offer a far more favorable opportunity 
for it. 

The other leading motive which influenced him in the 
course he took, was the prevention of a civil war : and we 
trust there is no man who is disposed to regard this as a light 
or unworthy consideration. Its danger was imminent. South 
Carolina stood ready, at a moment's warning, to strike the 
initial blow; and, once commenced, there was no reason to 
believe that she would be left alone to sustain it. It would 
inevitably have spread to the other Southern States, and 
bathed our fields in blood and our national name in infamy. 
This result other men would have braved : Mr. Clay chose 
to avert it ; and for successfully doing this, at that day he 
received, as he deserved, the warm thanks of all his fellow 
members — including Mr. Webster, (who, though he oppos- 
ed the act, paid worthy compliments to the motives and feel- 
ings of Mr. Clay,) and the gratitude of the whole country 
he had endeavored to serve. 

The Compromise Act has now expired by its own limita- 
tion. The period has arrived, contemplated by the act itself, 



156 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

when further laws would be necessary for the regulation of 
the Tariff — and those laws have been made. It is easy, aa 
it is natural, now that we have reaped the benefit of the Com 
promise, in the pacification of the country and the rescue 
of the Protective System from the hands of its enemies, to 
regret that we have any price to pay therefor — that the ques 
tion was not settled in 1833, so that we should be quit of its 
vexation and responsibility now. This is easy, but is it rea- 
sonable ? There were two points of time at which the ques- 
tion of a Tariff might be settled: one,- amid the fierce con- 
tentions, the bitter jealousies, and the bristling treason of 
1833, — the other, in the comparative quiet of 1842. Which 
of the two would any considerate man have chosen 1 And 
is there a single person, who knows and appreciates all the 
circumstances of the case, who can deliberately wish the other 
had been selected — remembering, too, the certainty that, if 
it had, Mr. Verplanck's bill would have become a law, and 
Protection would have been surrendered for ever 1 But, we 
waste time, and, worse than that, room, in apologizing for 
the Compromise. The people of the whole Union have 
united to espouse its policy and to render the sincere tribute 
of their thanks to- its author. In a tour to the Eastern States, 
which Mr. Clay made in the summer of 1833, he received 
the spontaneous applause of the people wherever he went. 
In all the cities and principal towns, cavalcades, public fes- 
tivals, and other marks of popular esteem greeted his appear- 
ance, and made his journey different only in form from the 
triumphal processions of ancient times. 

The policy of Mr. Clay with regard to the disposal of the 
Public Lands, is indissolubly connected with his name. 
These lands, originally the property of the thirteen c&nfed 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAT. 157 

erated States, had been ceded by them to the federal govern- 
ment, upon the adoption of our present Constitution, as a 
security for the payment of the debt incurred by the war of 
the Revolution. The debt in 1832 was nearly paid ; and it 
became a question of eomr importance, what disposal should 
be made of these lands, now that the specific purpose for 
which they were ceded, had been secured. The right of the 
thirteen States to share in them, was unimpaired; and yet 
the suggestion was made, that they should be surrendered to 
the new States in which they lie. In March, an inquiry into 
the subject was voted in the Senate, and the matter, contrary 
to all propriety, was referred to the Committee on Manufac- 
tures, of which Mr. Clay was chairman. Being at the same 
time a candidate for the Presidency, it was believed that his 
course upon the question would be decided by that considera- 
tion. His enemies confidently expected, therefore, a report 
recommending the surrender of the lands to the Western 
States in which they lay : and they had prepared themselves 
for a consequent crusade against him in the Eastern States. 
But he disappointed them, by reporting a bill for the equita- 
ble distribution of the proceeds of the sales among all the 
States of the Union, after paying 12 1-2 per cent, to the 
States in which they lay. On the 20th of June, 1832, he 
supported his recommendation in an able speech, to which, 
in behalf of the administration, Mr. Benton replied. On the 
3d of July the bill passed the Senate, by a vote of 20 to 18: 
but, as the session was near its close, it was postponed in the 
House. At the next session, however, it was passed in both 
Houses, and sent to the President for his approval. Know- 
ing that it would become a law by a two-thirds vote, should 
it be then returned, Gen. Jackson availed himself of the 
near adjournment of Congress, and, by retaining it in his pos- 



158 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

session, defeated the bill. At the next session it was returned 
with his objections. The President regarded the proposition 
to give 12 1-2 per cent, of the lands to the new States as un- 
constitutional : he therefore returned the bill, and recom- 
mended that the whole of the lands should be surrendered f> 
the States in which they lay. In this way he proposed to 
obviate the unconstitutionality of the measure proposed. 

At the time when General Jackson entered upon the dis- 
charge of his Presidential duties, the country was in a con- 
dition of high and apparently permanent prosperity. A 
sound and healthy currency circulated freely throughout the 
Union, furnished by the people themselves, and controlled 
by the operation of the United States Bank, an institution in 
no considerable degree under the control of the government. 
The circulating medium was moderate in its quantity, for it 
was wholly the creature of the wants of society, and thus 
always answered and never exceeded the demands of busi- 
ness : there was constant steadiness in its value, and perfect 
safety in its use. Government, like an organic being, per- 
formed all its functions with unconscious ease. In a state 
of health no man thinks of counting his pulse, nor is the 
beating of his heart attended with pain or even a conscious- 
ness of its operation. But when fever seizes upon the sys- 
tem every throb is painfully felt, and every pulsation sends 
a thrill of conscious agony throughout the frame. So was it 
with the affairs of State in 1829. With a safe currency of 
uniform value, and an efficient Tariff of Protection, all 
branches of industry flourished, and the condition of our na- 
tional affairs was one of high and proud prosperity. The 
legislation of Congress had been so wholesome and benig- 
nant in its operations, that it created no dread anxiety in the 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 159 

public mind : with a feeling of reliance upon government, 
and of confidence in the stability of its plans, all business 
men felt secure of an adequate return for their industry and 
enterprise. Our national legislation was based upon the 
soundest experience and the most established principles of 
political economy. The men to whom the business of shap- 
ing our national character and policy had been entrusted, 
had deemed themselves bound to follow the lights of history, 
and not to rush into the rash and dangerous path of experi- 
ment. Stability and uniformity of value in our currency, 
republican simplicity in the administration of the govern- 
ment, official purity in all the executive branches, security 
to all engaged in business, dependent solely upon care, a 
sound judgement and untiring industry, the flourishing condi- 
tion of all departments of industry and universal happiness 
and prosperity, bore decisive testimony to the wisdom and 
soundness of their views. All our interests were in the most 
prosperous condition ; and the government of the United 
States seemed destined speedily to achieve, as nearly as it 
can ever be done by political or civil institutions, the perfect 
equality and hnppiness of all its members. 

How sadly all this is changed, no one need be told. The 
cause and history of our sudden downfall, have been too 
often developed in our public prints, to make it either neces- 
sary or proper, in this place, to enter very fully into the de- 
tails of our disgrace. To the interference of the Government 
with the Currency of the People, — to the attempt, on the 
part of the Executive department, upon the advent of Gen. 
Jackson, to obtain control of that which can only work safely 
and beneficially, when left free, — candid and sound men, 
without distinction of party, now attribute all derangement 



160 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

in our business relations, and much of the suffering and ds3 
grace that have fallen upon our country. Almost immedi- 
ately after the advent of President Jackson, a purpose be- 
came evident, on the part of the administration, to induce 
or force the Bank of the United States to exert an active and 
efficient influence in support of the party which had proved 
victorious in the Presidential struggle. Experience had 
proved that a State, at least, could be ruled through the bank- 
ing system ; and analogy seemed to warrant the belief that 
the same power which had kept the State of New York, by 
the agency of a single collecting bank, chained to the car of 
party, might, if skilfully wielded, through the National Bank 
with its twenty-five branches reaching into and controlling 
all the State institutions, effect the sanie purposes with re- 
gard to the whole Union. The first -attempt was made upon 
the New Hampshire branch at Port-mouth. Jeremiah Ma- 
son, Esq., an ardent opponent, of General Jackson, was the 
President, and of course the first object to be accomplished 
was to secure his deposition with that of the directors, and to 
fill these offices with creatures of the President. On the 
11th of July 1829, a confidential letter from Levi Woodbury 
was sent by the Secretary of the Treasury, to Mr. Biddle, 
President of the National Bank, containing vague complaints 
against Mr. Mason, and saying that similar charges would 
soon be made against Branches in other States. They were 
repeated with additions in subsequent communications, and 
in a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, dated July 27th, 
Mr. Woodbury speaks of the political character of Mr. Ma- 
son, as being decidedly hostile to the Administration. The 
complaints were all heard and examined ; and the President 
of the National Bank in his reply, declares that the princi- 
ple on which the affairs of the Bank have been and shall he 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 161 

conducted was that of entire independence of all party con- 
siderations : " the relation of the Bank to the Government, " 
said he, " is that of an impartial and independent friend — 
not a politician." This was followed by further communi- 
cations from the Secretary of the Treasury, insisting' upon the 
charges preferred against Mr. Mason, u by the friends of Gen. 
Jackson," and finally stating, as a parting admonition, that 
"such an avowal of the views of the administration had been 
given, as could not fairly be misunderstood." The attempt 
to cajole the Bank was unsuccessful : the charges were dis- 
missed, and the President of the Portsmouth Branch was re- 
tained in his place. Resort was then had to threats. The 
Secretary of the Treasury, in a letter to the President of the 
Bank, threatened the institution with the power of the ad- 
ministration, which could be used in the appointment of 
five Directors, and in <l the withdrawal of the Public De- 
posites.'" 

In his first annual message, sent December 8th, 1829, — 
just after the failure of this insidious attempt to seduce the 
Bank into a party connection with the administration, — Presi- 
dent Jackson notices the fact that the Bank would probably 
soon desire a renewal of its charter; and contents himself 
with hinting that the " constitutionality and expediency of 
the law creating the Bank are questioned by the people." 
In his second message, he repeats the delicate suggestion 
that the Veto power is in his hands, but speaks also of (he 
propriety of so " modifying the principles and structure of 
the Bank as to obviate constitutional and other objections ;" 
evidently insinuating that, unless the Executive could have 
a share in devising the charter, it would encounter the veto. 
In his third message, of December 10th, 1831, he repeats his 

21 



162 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

doubts about the constitutionality of the Bank as " at present 
organized," but " leaves the subject to the investigation of 
the people and their representatives." This investigation 
was made, and resulted in the grant of a charter to the Bank, 
by a vote in the House of 107 to 85 — although the President 
had a large majority in that body. On the 4th of July, 1832, 
the bill was sent to the President ; and on the 11th it was 
returned with his objections. The true motive which influ- 
enced him to veto the bill was expressed, and the precise 
meaning of several hints in his previous messages, was ex- 
plained, by the assurance, in his veto message, that " if the 
Executive had been called on to furnish the project of a Na 
tional Bank, the duty would have been cheerfully performed. J? 
Upon its reception in the Senate, the veto was boldly and 
most ably denounced by Mr. Clay, who clearly exposed the 
arbitrary character of its assumptions, and condemned the 
doctrines upon which it was based. He declared himself, 
then, in favor of the policy which he has since proclaimed 
and upheld — the further limitation of the veto power. 

Attempts were now organized by the administration to 
destroy the Bank. A Committee of investigation had been 
appointed in the House, and no means were left untried to 
produce testimony there which should justify the meditated 
assaults upon that institution. An attempt was made to 
criminate the President, through the testimony of one Reu- 
ben M. Whitney, who, in the late war with Great Britain, 
had acted the part of a sutler for the British troops in Canada, 
and who was then, as it was afterwards shown, induced by 
Mr. Benton to make himself a tool in the hands of the cabal 
who sought the destruction of the Bank. The effort signally 
failed : for Whitney was discredited by a witness he himself 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 163 

had summoned. The contest now became mote open. In 
his message of December 4th, 1832, the President expresses 
the apprehension that the Bank of the United States is no 
longer u a safe depository of the money of the people." To 
give color to this charge of insolvency, a most unprincipled 
attempt was made to break the branch of the Bank at Savan- 
nah. A broker in New York, acting under instructions, col- 
lected about $300,000 of the bills of the Savannah branch 
and sent them on, demanding specie on the instant. A gen- 
tleman in this city, noticing the sudden disappearance of the 
bills from circulation, suspected some sinister intent, and im- 
mediately gave information of the fact to the President of the 
Bank, who forthwith sent a large amount of specie to Sa- 
vannah, and the notes were thus promptly redeemed. Had 
this infamous design succeeded, a run upon all the branches 
would instantly have followed, by public and private deposi- 
torSj a stoppage of specie payments would have been coerced, 
and the charge of insolvency would have been deemed 
established — to the sudden ruin of every kind of business in 
the country. The charge brought against the Bank, by the 
President, was taken into serious consideration by Congress, 
and the affairs of the institution were subjected to a strict in- 
vestigation. Tt was thus ascertained that the liabilities of 
the Bank were $37,296,950, and the fund to meet them $79,- 
593,870— making an excess of $42,296,920. So absurd was 
the suspicion of insolvency, in the face of this fact, that the 
House of Representatives, by a vote of 109 to 46, declared 
that the deposites of the United States were perfectly safe in 
the vaults of the Bank. 

General Jackson was re-elected, and on the 4th of March, 
1833, was inaugurated as President : and he now resolved 



164 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

upon an exercise of power more arbitrary and ruinous than 
he had before ventured to exert. Mr. McLane, who was 
then Secretary of the Treasury, was openly opposed, as were 
three other members of the Cabinet, to the removal of the 
deposites. He was accordingly soon removed, and Hon. W. 
J. Duane appointed in his place. He took the oath of office 
on the 1st of June. He was soon after called upon by Mr. 
Whitney, whom we have already mentioned, and informed 
of the intended action of the President with regard to the 
Bank. He was told that Gen. Jackson had determined to 
direct the Secretary of the Treasury to withdraw the de- 
posites from the United States Bank and to place them in 
the State Banks : that Amos Kendall, a man in noway con- 
nected with the Cabinet, was preparing the order, and that 
this measure would be made the rallying point for the party. 
The next day Mr. Kendall himself waited upon the Secre- 
tary, and convinced him that it was intended to reduce him 
" to a mere cipher in the administration." The President 
left Washington on the 6th, and did not return until July 
4th. Efforts were then renewed to induce Mr. Duane to or 
der the removal of the deposites — but to no purpose. He 
persisted in his refusal, nor would he resign his office. He 
was accordingly dismissed, and Mr. Roger B. Taney ap- 
pointed in his stead. The Executive bidding was now per- 
formed with alacrity : and after the first of October, 1833, the 
United States deposites were ordered to be placed in State 
Banks selected by an agent of the government. The average 
amount of the government deposites, at that time, wa3 about 
ten millions of dollars. This amount, which had before 
served as a basis of discount, was now suddenly withdrawn, 
and the Bank was forced to curtail its issues by a proportional 
amount. The attempts of the administration to ruin the 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 165 

credit of the Bank were continued, by the Executive organs 
at Washington and throughout the country ; and this, joined 
to the embarrassment caused by a curtailment of her issues, 
created a panic in business circles which was followed by 
universal stagnation and the ruin of thousands. 

This act of arbitrary power was announced by the Presi- 
dent to Congress in his message of 1833-4, and was by no 
means permitted to pass unreproved. Mr. Clay immediately 
introduced resolutions, which instantly passed, calling upon 
Mr. Taney for the reasons for the removal of the deposites, 
and for copies of documents by which he sought to justify 
his course. The reply was evasive and unsatisfactory; and 
on the 26th of December Mr. Clay introduced a series of 
resolutions denouncing the removal, by the President, of the 
Secretary of the Treasury, because he would not do his bid 
ding, as the exercise of a power over the Treasury of the 
United States not granted by the Constitution and laws, and 
dangerous to the liberties of the people, and pronouncing the 
Secretary's " reasons" " unsatisfactory and insufficient." He 
supported these resolutions in a speech of great length and 
of surpassing ability and eloquence. He recounted the prom- 
inent features of the administration of General Jackson, and 
pointed out, with great clearness, and depicted, in glowing 
language, the dangerous tendency of the principles upon 
which he had attempted to justify his ambitious conduct and 
his encroachments upon the prerogatives of Congress and 
the heads of departments. The resolution declaring the in- 
sufficiency of the Secretary's reasons, was reported by a Com- 
mittee of which Mr. Webster was chairman, and was adopted 
in the Senate by a vote of 28 to 18. The other was slightly 
modified by Mr. Clay and then passed, by a vote of 26 to 20. 



166 MEMOIB J HENRY CLAY, 

The passage of these resolutions called forth the celebrated 
Protest of the President, in which he declared himself alone 
responsible for the acts of his Cabinet, and insisted that he 
was not to be bound by the decisions of either Congress or 
the Judiciary, but that he was simply to administer the gov- 
ernment according to the Constitution, as he understood it. 
This document aroused, in the Senate, the deepest indigna- 
tion. Mr. Poindexter moved that it should not be received : 
and upon this motion ensued a debate marked by ability, 
eloquence, and stern condemnation of the Executive preten- 
sions, seldom equaled in our Congressional history. Sena- 
tors from every part of the country raised their voices against 
the novel and dangerous doctrines of the Protest, and the 
discussion was continued until the 21st of April, when the 
motion was withdrawn, and a series of resolutions, excluding 
the offensive document from the Journals, and denying the 
right of the President to protest against any part of the doings 
of the Senate, were introduced in its stead. After a debate, 
most able and somewhat protracted, these passed by a vote 
of 27 to 16. They were followed by a resolution offered by 
Mr. Clay, directing the restoration of the deposites : it passed 
the Senate, but, in the House, was laid upon the table. In 
all these exciting debates, Mr. Clay took a prominent part. 
His labors were extremely arduous, and he left Washington 
on the 1st of July, 1834. He narrowly escaped being killed, 
by the overturning of the stage coach, on his way, near 
Charlestown, Va. A young man sitting by his side was in- 
stantly killed — but Mr. Clay was only slightly injured. 

The discussion and settlement of our relations with France 
occupied much attention at the session of 1834-5 ; and the 
rashaess of the President, but for the efforts of Mr. Clay, 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 167 

/ould without doubt have involved us in a most disastrous 
war with that nation — to the certain ruin of our commerce 
and the general injury of all our interests. In July 1831, a 
treaty had been concluded, in which provision was made for 
the payment of certain claims, made by citizens of the Unit- 
ed States, and often admitted by France, for aggressions upon 
our commerce between the years 1800 and 1817. The first 
payment was not promptly made ; and with a haste and 
headlong rashness, characteristic of the man and all his acts, 
the President recommended the passage of a law, authorizing 
reprisals upon French property, in case provision should not 
be made for the immediate payment of the debt at the next 
session of the French Chamber. This message at once 
checked our commerce, greatly increased the rates of ocean 
insurance, and carried general alarm and confusion into all 
departments of business. In the Senate Mr. Clay, in behalf 
of the Committee to whom the subject was referred, on the 
6ih of January 1835, read a Report, long and full in its ex- 
amination of the whole subject, clear and decided in its con- 
demnation of the Executive policy and urging its views with 
an eloquent strength which commanded assent. It was re- 
ceived with unequaled favor ; twenty thousand copies were 
ordered to be printed, and it restored to the nation peace 
and commercial confidence. On the 14th of January, the 
subject was discussed, and after most able speeches by Mr. 
Clay and other prominent members of the Senate, a resolu- 
lution was unanimously passed, declaring the inexpediency 
of any further legislation in regard to the state of affairs be- 
tween France and the United States. At. the next session, 
Mr. Clay being again at the head of the Committee on For- 
eign relations, the consideration of the subject was renewed. 
The French government had been justly offended at the in- 



168 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAT. 

suiting tone of the President's Proclamation, and had placed 
itself immediately in an attitude of self-defence. The Re- 
port of Mr. Clay, and the action of the Senate upon it, had 
however, induced a more favorable disposition, and through 
the mediation of Great Britain, our difficulties with France 
were settled without delay, on terms honorable alike to both. 

During the remainder of General Jackson's administration 
the labors of Mr. Clay in the Senate, were arduous and un- 
remitting. Without attempting even to indicate all the ques- 
tions of national policy which were discussed, we may say, 
generally, that he evinced a firm and undaunted opposition 
to the spirit in which the government was administered, as 
well as to the various specific plans which were brought for- 
ward and supported by the Executive party in Congiess. An 
intent was shown by the President and his actual, though 
not always his constitutional advisers, to strengthen their 
party by whatever means, and to lay a secure foundation for 
the perpetuity of their power. The finances of the country, 
a skilful use of the many millions which were annually 
collected and disbursed for the service of the government, 
and the Banking system, seemed to be the readiest and most 
effective instruments for their purposes. Their first effort 
therefore was, as we have seen, to obtain control of the Uni- 
ted States Bank with all its Branches, with an intent to use 
the great power thus placed in their hands for the advance- 
ment of their party interests. Foiled in this, they speedily 
formed the plan to crush the Bank, and to build upon its ru- 
ins a great government institution, in which the whole con- 
trol of the finances of the country should rest with the Ex- 
ecutive. This-far reaching intent was afterwards distinctly 
avowed by Thomas H. Benton, as will be seen hereafter. 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 169 

Though ihis was the leading feature of the great scheme by 
which these men sought to establish their power and to con 
trol the popular will ; other plans were devised, each more 
or less potent in its own sphere, and all tending to the same 
single object. The fact that the Executive was controlled 
by advisers in no way connected with his administration, that 
a power ' behind the throne' was permitted to acquire more 
power than the throne itself, that the counsel of the Presi- 
dent's cabinet, his constitutional advisers, was often rejected 
for that of persons unknown to the constitution, was in itself 
an alarming fact — evincing the existence and power of a 
class of men banded together for the support of their party, 
regardless of the wants and interests of the country. That 
such a clique of conspirators did exist, and that their influ- 
ence with the President often outweighed and destroyed that 
of the men whom he had called to his support, is now estab- 
lished by the most undoubted evidence. The distribution 
of the executive patronage, with lavish expenditures of the 
public money ; the organization of a pensioned press, reach- 
ing into every part of the Union, and carrying with it an 
influence that could not be seen or fairly met, but which 
would make itself deeply felt in its ultimate influence over 
public opinion : the recognition in Congress and the public 
mind, of the principle, expressly disavowed by the constitu- 
tion, but proclaimed by General Jackson, that the executive 
was to be considered a coordinate branch of the Legislature ; 
these and kindred measures formed part of the plan by which 
the purposes of this unprincipled faction were to be secured. 
That they failed of final success, is to be attributed to no 
lack of boldness or ability on the part of those who devised 
them ; but solely to the untiring and strenuous efforts of 
those who at an early day saw their tendency, and to the 



170 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

aroused patriotism and the enlightened judgement of the peo 
pie. Foremost among those who clearly demonstrated, and 
most eloquently denounced the aim of the Administration, Mr. 
Clay was always found. He predicted the commercial dis- 
tress which must ensue, and the still more fatal political and 
personal depravity which would inevitably follow the exer- 
tions of the administration. Party service becoming the only 
passport to executive favor, chicanery and corruption would 
soon assume the garb, and receive the fee, of political virtue : 
public station would be sought solely for the means of per- 
sonal emolument it was found to afford ; and a general relaxa- 
tion of all right principle and moral restraint would soon per- 
vade the State, and, through its influence upon personal char- 
acter, pave the way for any iniquitous scheme of aggrandize- 
ment reckless ambition might devise. How perfectly all 
this has been accomplished, the slightest survey of the pres- 
ent state of the country will clearly show. How clearly it 
was foretold, and how earnestly it was deprecated by Mr. 
Clay and the other members of the great Whig party, the 
recollection of every one will readily declare. The session 
of 1836-7 was fruitful in eloquent debate upon these topics 
of national interest. Several measures of public policy were 
also discussed, but none of any great importance became 
laws. Mr. Clay again called up his Land Bill : but, as the 
administration now had a majority in the Senate, its success 
was not expected, though fortunately the bill of Mr. Cal- 
houn, for the virtual surrender of all the public domain to the 
Slates in which they lay, encountered a similar fate. The 
discussion of the propriety of recognizing the independence 
of Texas ; incidental debates on the tariff policy ; the con- 
sideration of the subject of abolition and of the right of peti- 
tion ; the debate on the Expunging resolution, introduced by 



MEMOIR Of HENRY CLAY. 171 

Thomas H. Benton, and providing for the erasure from the 
journal of the Senate of the resolutions censuring President 
Jackson for his arbitrary removal of the deposites ; and many 
other topics of minor importance, in the discussion of which 
Mr. Clay bore an efficient and distinguished part, engaged 
the attention of Congress until the close of its session. 

In the autumn of 1836, occurred the Presidential Election, 
at which Hon. Martin Van Buren was elected by 170 of the 
294 electoral votes. He entered upon the discharge of his 
duties on the 4th of March 1837. 

The condition of the country at that time is now well 
knownand its causes are clearly understood. The removal of 
the deposites, it will be recollected, were ordered in October 
1833, and a basis of ten millions for discounts was thus with- 
drawn from the vaults of the Bank of the United States. 
The immediate result of this daring step was a general pros- 
tration of business. The demand for money to meet home 
engagements was such, that Exchange on England fell to 
the nominal par, which is not far from nine per cent, below 
the real value. The funds of the government were removed 
to the State Banks, selected by an Executive agent. These 
Banks were then stimulated to large issues by a circular from 
the Treasury Department, urging them liberally to extend 
their discounts to the public, though they were for some time 
kept in check by the action of the United States Bank, not- 
withstanding its crippled condition. Presently, however, as 
an initial step towards winding up its affairs, the Bank com- 
menced disposing of its branches by transferring their assets 
to the State Banks — whose obligations they received in re- 
*nrn. These local institutions, in proportion, expanded their 



172 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

issues, and upon the termination of the existence of the 
National Bank, they broke loose from all, restraint, and flood- 
ed the land with their notes. New banks were multiplied, 
founded in a great measure upon fictitious capital, and the 
abundance of money thus created engendered a spirit of 
wild speculation, far more intense and reckless than was ever 
before known. To form some notion of its extent, a bare re- 
ference to the sales of the Public Lands is necessary. Pre- 
vious to 1835 the annual proceeds of these sales had never 
reached $4,000,000. In that year they amounted to $11,- 
000,000, and in 1836, to the enormous sum of $24,000,000. 
This was paid for, in a great degree, in the " better currency" 
of the day, which Gen. Jackson had so successfully labored 
to create. But, immediately after the rising of Congress, in 
1836, a treasury order was issued requiring specie, in all cases, 
to be paid for the public lands. This order had only a few 
months before been deliberately rejected by the unanimous 
vote of the Senate, and was rescinded at the ensuing session, 
by a resolution introduced by Mr. Ewing and most zealously 
supported by Mr. Clay ; but the President, to prevent its be- 
coming a law, retained it in his possession until after the 
adjournment of Congress. This order had the effect to with- 
draw their specie from the vaults of the seaboard banks, and, 
in the language of Gen. Jackson, " to convey into the inte- 
rior large sums of silver and gold." This of course greatly 
embarrassed and crippled the eastern banks, and their diffi- 
culties were still farther increased by the demands upon their 
vaults for specie to pay, in Europe, the largely increased 
debt, incurred by the excess of our imports over our exports, 
consequent upon the destruction of the United States Bank 
and the extension of the speculating mania to our foreign 
commerce. It is worth while to note how exactly our foreign 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 173 

trade has gone hand in hand with the existence of a National 
Bank, with power to control exchanges and to prevent over 
issues by the State institutions. During the nineteen com- 
mercial years, from 1781 to 1810, when we had a National 
Bank, the excess of our imports over our exports amounted, 
in the aggregate, to 282,000,000 of dollars, or about $15,000,- 
000 annually : and deducting from this the profits of our car- 
rying trade, which of course are to be added to our exports, 
$10,000,000 would, without doubt, fairly represent the nett 
excess, which the freight on our exports would easily pay. 
From 1810 to 1816, the six years between the expiration of 
the charter of the old bank and the commencement of the 
new, the excess of our imports over our exports amounted to 
$159,000,000, or $26,500,000 annually— more than twice the 
former amount. From 1816 to 1835, were nineteen commer- 
cial years when we again had a National Bank : and the ag- 
gregate excess is found to be $199,000,000, or $10,500,000 
annually — a sum fully met by freights and profits on out- 
ward cargoes. Thus up to the close of 1835, about four 
months before the expiration of the charter of the Bank, our 
foreign trade was kept within reasonable limits. The returns, 
made by the Secretary of the Treasury, show that for the 
year ending the 30th September, 1836, the first year after 
the destruction of the Bank, the excess of the imports over 
the exports of the country amounted to the enormous sum of 
$61,316,995. Now deducting from this amount all the profits 
on our exports, and all paid by States and corporations for 
Railroad iron, &c, at least $15,000,000 must have remained 
to be remitted to Europe in specie ; and this amount, in ad- 
dition to that demanded for the purchase of western lands, 
the Atlantic banks were required to furmsn. 



174 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

Still another cause operated to effect the prostration of the 
Banks. In May, 1836, in accordance with a recommenda- 
tion of Gen. Jackson made as early as 1829, Congress passed 
a law for the apportionment among the States of all the reve- 
nue exceeding five millions of dollars : the sum to be distribu- 
ted on the 1st of January, 1837, was $37,468,859, and this 
was of course nearly all deposited with the banks. The ag- 
gregate amount of specie in the vaults of all the eighty-six 
deposite banks amounted, on the 15th of June, 1837, to only 
$10,601,936 — not one-third the amount of the surplus to be 
divided. This of course placed these institutions at the Ex- 
ecutive mercy. By a proper arrangement, no injury would 
have ensued to the business of the country ; but the course 
adopted was one which could only result in ruin. The quar- 
terly payment to the States exceeded $9,000,000 ; and this 
was liable to be drawn in specie. Of course, in order to be 
prepared for the worst, a curtailment of discounts to more 
than three times this amount commenced : and, in conse 
quence of these three circumstances, the promulgation of the 
Specie Circular, the demand of coin for the adjustment of the 
balance of trade which was so heavily against us, and the 
mode adopted in the division of the surplus revenue, the 
banks throughout the country, after a sacrifice of thousands 
of individuals, were obliged to suspend. Money of course 
became scarce ; business men were unable to meet their lia- 
bilities ; bankruptcy and hopeless ruin followed ; 20 to 25 
per cent, was the common rate of interest. On the 7th and 
8th of March eleven houses in New Orleans failed for an ag- 
gregate of $27,000,000 ; the value of real estate in New York 
city, within six months, fell $40,000,000, and within two 
months there had been 220 failures in trade and a decline of 
$20,000,000 in local stocks ; and the condition of the whole 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 176 

country was fairly represented in the two instances at its ex- 
treme points which we have cited. 

Such was the state of the country when Mr. Van Buren 
entered upon the discharge of the Presidential duties, in the 
spring of 1837. The intensity of the commercial distress im- 
pelled him to instant action ; and on the 15th of May he 
issued his proclamation, convening Congress in extra session 
on the 1st of September. The greatest anxiety pervaded the 
country as to the specific measures of relief the President 
would suggest. He had a decided majority in the House, 
and, it was supposed, could safely rely upon their support. 
At the opening of the session, Hon. James K. Polk, an ac- 
tive and prominent supporter of the administration, was 
elected Speaker of the House, receiving 116 of the 224 votes 
cast. The message of the President recommended the adop- 
tion of what is familiarly known as the Sub-Treasury System 
for the collection, safe-keeping and disbursement of the pub- 
lic moneys. Its prominent features were these : 1. Four 
persons were to be appointed Receivers general, by the Presi- 
dent and Senate, to collect and keep the public money at 
New York, Boston, St. Louis and Charleston, who were pro- 
hibited from using or loaning the government funds and were 
under the directions of the treasury department : 2. The 
President, through the Secretary of the Treasury, was au- 
thorized to require such bonds of the receivers and their sub- 
ordinates, who were all the executive officers throughout the 
Union, as he might think fit, and to renew or increase them 
at pleasure : 3. The Secretary of the Treasury was empow- 
ered to transfer the money from any one point of the country 
to any other, as the public service should seem to require, and 
to draw upon any of the depositories as he might think neces- 



176 MEMOIR OE HENRY JJLAY. 

sary : 4. The public revenues were to be collected after 
June 30, 1840, one-fourth in specie ; one-half after June 30, 
1841 ; three-fourths after 1842, and after June, 1843, all pub- 
lic dues, of whatever kind, were to be paid in gold and silvei 
only. These were the principal provisions of this important 
bill. Its introduction to Congress was instantly followed by 
a threatened secession of a portion of the party — manifested 
by the election of Thomas Allen, known to be opposed to 
this scheme, as Printer to the House. Mr. Calhoun, who, 
up to this time had been among the most violent enemies of 
the administration party, suddenly became an advocate of 
the Sub-Treasury plan and acted afterwards with its friends. 
In the Senate the bill was taken up on the 20th of Septem- 
ber, and on the 25th Mr. Clay delivered a strong and con- 
vincing speech against it. It was discussed, both in the halls 
of Congress and in the public prints, with unwonted zeal and 
ability, and passed its third reading on the 4th of October, by 
a vote of 25 to 20. In the House, on the 10th, after a long 
and violent struggle, it was laid on the table, by a vote of 120 
to 107. Thus was this leading measure of Mr. Van Buren's 
administration defeated at the outset, even when it was sup- 
posed he had an obedient majority in Congress. The causes 
of this are mainly to be found in the act itself. By the first 
provision we have mentioned, the moneys of the government 
were to be entirely withdrawn from circulation, to be locked 
up in treasury vaults and thus not allowed to aid, even inci- 
dentally, the business of the country. This was evidently 
an injury, to the extent of its operation, to all the great com- 
mercial interests and to the general prosperity of the people. 
The second provision placed all the receivers of the public 
money, and of course the money itself, at the entire disposal 
of the President — thus increasing the executive power to a 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 177 

dangerous extent. The third gave to the President, through 
his Secretary of the Treasury, complete command over the 
exchanges of the country : the whole banking system of the 
United States was thus placed completely under his control 
—even more effectually than it would have been had (he 
first attempt, in 1829, to obtain supremacy over the United 
States Bank and its branches, been successful. The purpo- 
ses to which this immense power might be directed, are too 
evident to need indication. The fourth provision sought to 
establish one currency for the government and to leave to the 
people another, which the very discrimination showed to be 
inferior and less safe. The operation of this clause was also 
acknowledged to be, to reduce the price of labor throughout 
the country, by a contraction of {he circulating medium : and 
the policy of thus placing the labor of this nation more near- 
ly on a level with that of the old countries of Europe, was 
distinctly and directly advocated by Calhoun, Buchanan, 
Walker, Wright, and in fact by all the leading supporters 
of the administration. 

For these reasons the sub-treasury bill found favor neither 
with Congress nor with the people. It was regarded by many 
considerate and sound men, as only one branch, a single link 
— though a most important one — in the great design of ob- 
taining complete control over the government of the Union, 
and thus of ruling its destinies as party supremacy and per- 
sonal ambition might require. Nor was this conjecture with- 
out foundation : for it was distinctly avowed by prominent 
friends of Van Buren that the war upon the National Bank 
was commenced, not for the reasons assigned by the execu- 
tive message, but as the initial step towards the establish- 
ment of this government scheme : and that the explosion of 

23 



178 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

the State Banks was counted upon, and beheld with pleasure, 
as an important step towards this consummation. The im- 
portance of this subject will justify the citation of a single 
passage in support of this opinion, although many might be 
presented. We think the obvious meaning of the following 
avowal from a speech made by Mr. Benton, in the Senate, on 
the 13th of January, 1840, cannot be mistaken : 

" If any one asks when it was that I began to labor for the 
establishment of an Independent Treasury, 1 answer that I 
began this labor, on the day in which I began my labors to 
terminate the existence of the Bank of the United States. 
That Bank was in the possession of the two precise privile- 
ges which would constitute the new system, — the privilege 
of paying the public dues in her own notes, and the privilege 
of keeping the public moneys. Now it is evident there 
could be no Independent Treasury until these bank privileges 
were abolished ; and to abolish them the Bank itself must be 
brought to a close. It was necessary to get rid of that insti- 
tution before we could begin to erect the Independent Treas- 
ury. Demolition was to precede erection : and for seven 
long years I labored at the preliminary work. Those who 
defended the Bank during that time, fought seven years 
against the Independent Treasury system. Those who at- 
tacked the Bank fought for the system. True, the transit 
was not direct from the one to the other. There was a half- 
way house between them, as indispensable to be stopped at 
and tarried in a while, in going from a National Bank, as in 
returning to one. This half-way house, as every one under- 
stands, was the State Bank deposite system. We stopped in 
it three years, from 1834 to 1837, when it blew up and we 
escaped. Congress aided to blow it up by the State Deposite 



1TEM0IR OF HENRY CLAY. 179 



act of 1837, which called for thirty-six millions of dollars, 
which we knew this half-way house had let out and could not 
return within the prescribed time, without ruin to itself or its 
debtors. It blew up and we left it : and the democratic party 
then took the decisive ground of going the whole distance 
and erecting the Independent Treasury." 

It now seems very evident, from the subsequent avowalg 
of the leaders of the Jackson party, that the warfare against 
the United States Bank was not commenced from a desire to 
purge it from its abuses and corruptions, if such existed : 
but with the deliberate, well-formed intention of first ruining 
this institution and then preparing the public mind, by the 
State Bank deposite system, the specie circular, and the 
mode adopted in the distribution of the surplus revenue, 
(which were known at the time they were made to be ruin- 
ous to the interests of the country,) for any measure of appa- 
rent relief the administration might devise. Even at the time 
the Independent Treasury system was laid before Congress 
at its extra session, its tendencies and purposes were so dis- 
tinctly seen by clear-sighted politicians, that a large body of 
the party which had supported Gen. Jackson withdrew them- 
selves from the administration and arrayed themselves against 
this, its initial measure, under the name of** Conservatives." 
The Independent Treasury system became the leading fea- 
ture of the Van Buren party, which thus lost entirely the 
support of the Conservative*- During the early part of the 
extra session petitions /rom all parts of the United States 
poured in upon Congress, for the re-charter of a National 
Bank, as the mly adequate remedy for the commercial dis- 
tress and embarrassment which then prevailed and which 
held allele industry of the people beneath a mountain weight 



180 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

which all their enterprise could not throw off. Being refer- 
red in the Senate to the Committee on Finance, Mr. Wright, 
of New York, its Chairman, reported a resolution that the 
prayer of the petitioners ought not to be granted. Mr. Clay 
moved, in amendment, that " it would be expedient to es- 
tablish a Bank of the United States whenever it shall be 
manifest that a clear majority of the people of the United 
States desire such an institution." This amendment, safe 
and republican as it is, was lost, and Mr. Wright's adopted 
in its stead. 

Congress adjourned on the 16th of October, and convened 
in regular session in December. The sub-treasury scheme 
was again urged in the President's message, and formed the 
main subject of discussion at that session. Mr. Clay took 
occasion in several most able speeches to discuss, fully and 
fearlessly, the character of the administration and the ten- 
dency of the doctrines which Gen. Jackson had first laid down 
as his elementary political economy, and which Mr. Van 
Buren had pledged himself to seek to establish. The ques- 
tion of the currency had now become the chief topic of dis- 
cussion and of interest in the general politics of the nation ; 
and Mr. Clay, with all his wonted frankness, clearly ex- 
pressed his partiality for a National Bank, and the general 
features of such an one as he would wish established. He 
wished : 1. That the capital should be $50,000,000, its stock 
to be divided between the General and State governments 
and individual subscribers : 2. The organization of the bank 
to exclude foreigners from holding any portion of its stock 
and to regard both public and private interests : 3. To set 
apart a portion of the capital, sufficient to pay piomptly and 
in any contingency, all such paper as the bank might: issue * 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 181 

4. Perfect publicity as to all its concerns : 5 A limitation of 
its dividends to a certain percent. : 6. A prospective reduc- 
tion of the rate of interest to six, and if practicable, to five 
per cent. : 7. A restriction upon the premium demanded 
upon post-notes and checks to something like one and a half 
per cent, between the most remote points of the Union — 
thus regulating domestic exchanges : 8. Effective provisions 
against the interference of the Executive with the Bank and 
of the Bank with the elections of the country. Of a Bank con- 
formed to these principles Mr. Clay has often declared him- 
self the advocate. 

During the suspension of the banks in 1837, the foreign 
debt of the country was materially diminished, by shipments 
of produce to Europe for its payment. The principal Banks 
of New York hired abroad, for a short time, a large amount 
of specie, and in the spring of 1838 declared their readiness 
to resume specie payments. The Pennsylvania Banks were 
afraid to follow, though they reluctantly acceded to the pro- 
posal. At the expiration of the charter of the National Bank, 
a charter had been obtained from the State of Pennsylvania 
and the Bank had gone on in its operations, though with no 
other privileges than other State Banks, and with no resem- 
blance to the former Bank of the United States, except in its 
name. The assets of the National Bank — mostly due from 
the south-western States — were transferred to this new insti- 
tution, which also assumed all her liabilities. There being 
but little capital in the south-west after the National Bank 
closed its branches, the new Bank in her own defence made 
large advances on cotton, which was shipped to Europe, with 
the understanding that the balance, after payment of freight 
and charges, should be applied to the payment of the old debta 



182 MEMOIR OF HffiNKY CLAY. 

transferred from the National Bank. It was thought by 
the Pennsylvania Banks that resumption should be postponed 
until another crop of cotton could be shipped and the balance 
still due to Europe thus canceled : for, on these sales the 
United States Bank of Pennsylvania, a large part of her funds 
being loaned in sections where it could not be collected but 
by the ruin of whole communities, mainly depended. They 
were overruled, however, and a resumption was effected, — 
based on coin hired for a limited period in Europe. The im- 
pulse thus given to trade, added to the decrease of duties, 
again swelled our imports — which in that year, 1839, reached 
an aggregate of $157,608,560 — exceeding our exports by the 
large sum of $39,250,556. This was to be paid in specie ; 
and, of course, another drain upon the banks was caused. 
Here was one source of embarrassment to the banks, arising 
from a premature resumption. But a still more potent cause 
of distress was the action of the Bank of England — rendered 
necessary by the political relations of the British empire and 
a failure of the corn crops, which came in some ,£5,000,000 
short — every dollar of which was to be paid in specie to for 
eign nations. Then came the troubles with China. Up to 
that time the teas and other Chinese products required by- 
England, had been paid for by an illicit trade in opium, 
which, through bribery of the revenue officers at Canton and 
in various other ways, had long been exchanged by British 
traders for teas — although its introduction was expressly in- 
terdicted by the Emperor. The Chinese authorities had at 
length seized and destroyed an amount of this poisonous and 
contraband drug, in the hands of British subjects, to the value 
of some $15,000,000 ; and this amount was now to be ship- 
ped to China. Menaced by these demands, the Bank of 
England was forced to curtail her circulation, and increase 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 183 

her rate of interest — with the twofold object of enabling Brit- 
ish manufacturers, by a fall in the price of the raw material, 
to extend their competition abroad, and to counteract the 
tendency of specie to flow to the United States — caused by 
the high interest paid on our State and other securities. This 
caused a fall of American products in British markets, in the 
aggregate of probably not less than $20,000,000 ; and the cot- 
ton of the Pennsylvania Bank of course suffered heavy depre- 
ciation. British goods at low prices likewise flooded our mar- 
kets, to be paid for in specie, and added to the general em- 
barrassment. Thus surrounded on every side, her resources 
cut off and her credit destroyed, the United States Bank fell 
beneath the pressure, and her fall drew in its train a gen- 
eral suspension of all the Middle, Western, and Southern 
States, with a derangement in business still greater than that 
of 1837. 

This embarrassment in the financial affairs of the country 
gave the administration occasion for repeatedly urging 
the Independent Treasury system upon Congress. It was 
debated with great ability and with unwearied address by the 
opposition until July, 1840 : on the 1st day of that month it 
passed its final reading in the House by a vote of 124 to 107. 
The bill had already passed the Senate, and on the 4th of 
July received the signature of the President and became a 
law. 

The protracted embarrassments of the country, which were 
so eisily traced to the administration, had aroused universal 
attention to political affairs. The objectionable features of 
the Independent Treasury system, which had just been adopt- 
ed, were very generally seen, and the whole character of the 



184 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

government, its thriftless extravagance, its utter failure to 
devise any relief for the distress which weighed down every 
department of industry, and the manifest corruption which 
actuated much of its policy, awakened a feeling of deter- 
mined resistance. For twelve years the same leading prin- 
ciples had guided the legislation of the country, and our na- 
tional experience during that time had certainly not tended 
to establish them very firmly in the affections of the peo- 
ple. The next Presidential election, therefore, was regarded 
as one of extreme importance : and the opposition made 
preparation for a warm and fierce struggle. The first point 
to be decided was the choice of their candidate for the Presi- 
dency : and, as different sections of the country seemed to 
have preferences for different men, a National Convention of 
representatives was called. They met at Harrisburg Penn. 
on the 4th of December, 1839. The members had been cho- 
sen with scrupulous reference to their soundness of judgment 
and their political experience. They went unpledged, ex- 
cept to give their votes to the man upon whom the greatest 
portion of the people, in their opinion, could unite. In the 
ranks of the opposition were several men of high worth and 
deserved reputation, though it was universally conceded that 
Mr. Clay was by far the best qualified for that high office. 
But this was not the only, nor in the existing circumstances 
of the case, the chief question to be considered. The great 
aim, at that time and in the critical condition of the country 
which then existed, was to secure the administration of the 
government to the Whig party — and thus to provide for car- 
rying into practical effect their long cherished and vitally im- 
portant principles. They were thus forced to seek for a can- 
didate who would encounter the least prejudice and concen- 
trate most perfectly the entire strength of the opposition. Id 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAT. 185 

the discharge of this duty men of discretion, of clear foresight, 
and of wide and accurate political information were required ; 
and of such was the Convention mainly composed. Hon. 
James Barbour, of Virginia, was elected President, and a 
plan for the transaction of business was adopted which would 
allow the most full and free interchange of opinion, and 
which should conduce to the most expedient result. The 
political complexion of the whole Union was strictly scanned 
and the personal partialities of each district were carefully 
ascertained and duly weighed. All their deliberations were 
characterized by the most remarkable harmony and good 
feeling and by a profound desire to save their country from 
the continuation of the existing administration, which subdued 
all party and personal feeling, and made the Convention one 
of the most solemn interest. The result was the nomination 
of General Harrison, contrary to the expectations of the 
country and to the bitter disappointment of thousands. The 
nomination was received by the friends of Mr. Clay in the 
Convention with the most cordial approval — though their 
hearts were sorely wounded at the unlooked for result. Some 
were affected even to tears : but not a voice was raised in op- 
position to the action of the Convention or in question of the 
purity of the motives of those who had given this direction to 
it. A letter was read, which Mr. Clay had written previous 
to the meeting of the Convention, urging his friends there to 
throw to the winds all feelings of personal regard for him, 
and to agree upon that citzen whose nomination would tend 
most surely to the rescue of the country from the perils by 
which it was surrounded. " Should the deliberations of the 
Convention," said he, "lead them to the choice of another 
as the candidate of the opposition, far from feeling any dis- 
content, the nomination will have my best wishes and receive 

24 



186 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

my cordial support." The reading of this letter aroused all 
the love and admiration of that assemblage of distinguished 
men. The loftiest eulogiums were pronounced upon the 
name and public services of Mr. Clay. Benjamin Watkins 
Leigh, while he declared that no man was so transcendently 
qualified for the highest office in the gift of the people as Mr. 
Clay, acknowledged that the office could confer no dignity 
or honor upon him. "The measure of his fame," said he, 
" is now full, and ripens for posterity : and whenever the tomb 
shall close over him, it will cover the loftiest intellect and 
the noblest heart this age has ever produced or known :" — 
and the venerable Peter R. Livingston, with simple but 
thrilling eloquence exclaimed, " I envy Kentucky : for when 
he dies she will have his ashes!" The most profound emo- 
tion was felt throughout the Convention. All the friends of 
Mr. Clay were affected by his failure to receive the nomina- 
tion^ by a poignant personal grief: but the high-minded, 
generous letter which had just been read, urging entire una- 
nimity and concert of action, and so, nobly laying aside all 
personal considerations, while it increased their love and es- 
teem for its distinguished author and their sorrow at his de- 
feat, hushed into perfect acquiescence every feeling of com- 
plaint or opposition to the decision of the Convention. The 
nomination of Gen. Harrison was made with entire unanimi- 
ty, and John Tyler, who had been for some years a United 
States Senator from Virginia, and a most ardent and devoted 
friend of Mr. Clay, was selected as the candidate for Vico 
President. 

The action of the Convention was received by the great 
Whig party throughout the Union with disappointment and 
sadness, bordering upon anger. The eyes of the nation were 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 187 

turned upon Mr. Clay ; and, though Gen. Harrison was 
known as an upright statesman, and as one in every way 
worthy the supreme confidence of the country, it required all 
the high reliance of the Whigs on the piudence, foresight 
and patriotism of the members of the nominating Convention, 
to repress their grief and murmured discontent. But the 
deep feeling of unselfish regard for the good of the country 
and the profound sense of the dangers to which it was ex- 
posed from the schemes of the dominant party, which were 
so manifest at the Harrisburg Assembly, were soon communi- 
cated to the Whigs throughout the Union. A national Con- 
vention of Young Men to respond to the nomination was soon 
after called at Baltimore : it was attended by delegates from 
every part of the United States, and by citizens who felt a 
deep interest in the questions at issue, to the number of fif- 
teen or twenty thousand ; and its proceedings were charac- 
terized by a profound, heart-rousing enthusiasm then almost 
unknown in political assemblies. From the date of this Con- 
vention, a feeling of high confidence and of resolute determi- 
nation pervaded the Whigs, and urged them to exertions in 
behalf of their principles and candidates, well-nigh unex- 
ampled in party contests. Town, County, and State Con- 
ventions were held almost daily until the time of election^ 
The most abstruse questions of national policy were discussed 
before the people, by the ablest and most eminent politicians 
in the country : investigation was made into every depart- 
ment of the administration : abuses and corruptions, in all 
branches of the government, were exposed and denounced, 
in speeches, political pamphlets, and by the periodical press 
throughout the Union : and an enthusiasm was aroused, per- 
vading the whole length and breadth of the land, and stimu- 
lating every class of her citizens, never before equaled but 



188 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAT. 

by a national uprising to repel the military invasion of a for- 
eign foe. As in the memorable Peasants' War of Germany, 
the revolt of the " Beggars" of Sweden, the French Revolu- 
tion, the demonstrations of the Chartists in England, and all 
great contests in which the masses of the people have 
risen up in determined hostility to their rulers — the feelings 
which animated the opposition found vent in emblems, ban- 
ners, mottoes, songs, and cavalcades, which addressed the 
eyes and passions of the multitude, as well as in speeches 
and political pamphlets, in which the appeal was more di- 
rectly to their judgment and interests. Men who before had 
taken but slight concern in the strife of political parties, and 
who had carefully shunned its turmoil — old men, who would 
far more cheerfully yield to brief oppression, than vex with 
unquiet din their peaceful and declining years — found them- 
selves struggling, side by side with the youthful and aspir- 
ing, for the triumph of those principles to which both were 
devoted, and in the disregard of which they saw danger and 
portended ruin to the land. Conventions, numbering from 
ten to forty thousand persons, were of frequent occurrence : 
some of the ablest political essays ever written in the coun- 
try were printed and scattered throughout the whole Union ; 
and men who before had scarcely thought seriously of politi- 
cal principles, sat down to a close examination, in the light 
of reason and experience, of the most intricate yet vitally 
important questions of the currency, banking, and general 
political economy. Among the eminent statesmen who took 
an active part in the campaign, Mr. Clay was prominent. 
He entered into the canvass with the utmost ardor, and la- 
bored zealously and with proud success to secure the triumph 
of the principles which had ruled all his public life. The 
limitation of the President to a single term of office ; the 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAT. 189 

restriction of the Veto power ; the decrease of the power of 
the Executive over the Treasury, and the limitation of the 
power of dismissal from office, were the leading general re- 
forms he desired to be adopted. The establishment of a sound 
and uniform currency ; the distribution of the public lands 
for the benefit of all the States ; the Protection of American 
Industry ; more, strict economy in the expenditures of gov- 
ernment, and the establishment of a higher standard of politi- 
cal morality, were the specific measures to which he gave 
his most ardent support. The result of a political contest 
conducted on such principles and with such enthusiasm, could 
scarcely be doubted. General Harrison was elected to the 
Presidency by receiving 234 out of the 294 electoral votes 
that were cast : and by the same vote John Tyler, whose 
election had been urged upon the same great political prin- 
ciples held by General Harrison, and by the Whig party to 
whom both looked for support, was elected to the second 
office in the gift of the people. 

The labors of Mr. Clay in Congress during the session of 
1839-40 were as arduous and efficient as at any previous 
time. The questions discussed were chiefly those which had 
frequently before been presented to Congress, and upon 
which his opinions had often been declared. It is therefore 
unnecessary for us here to trace, in any detailed form, the 
various occasions upon which his former sentiments were re- 
peated and urged with all his accustomed energy and elo- 
quence. The Land Bill was again brought up, and a spirited 
debate arose between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun. The ex- 
penditures of the government; the appropriation bill ; the 
subject of abolition ; the system of internal improvements, 
and other topics of national interest, came before the Senate 



190 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAT. 

and were discussed with frankness and high ability by Mr. 
Clay. The Independent Treasury, at, this session, also, en- 
countered, as it had done at all its previous stages, his most 
unrelenting hostility. His views of its dangerous tendency 
and of the evil it would inevitably bring upon this country 
are found expressed at length, and sustained by the clearest 
reasoning, in the various speeches which he pronounced upon 
it. The only bill before Congress which involved new prin- 
ciples, and upon which Mr. Clay's opinions had not often 
before been declared, was that for the establishment of a uni- 
form system of Bankruptcy, rendered absolutely necessary 
for the relief of the thousands of enterprising business men 
who had been ruined by the speculations into which they 
had been seduced by the legislation of the past twelve years. 
The bill was reported by the Judiciary Committee of the 
Senate, in the spring of 1840, in consequence of the numer- 
ous petitions which were presented in its favor. It was op- 
posed, strenuously, by all the leading members of the admin- 
istration, and was defeated in the House at that session ; al- 
though it had been carried in the Senate, by the powerful 
advocacy of Mr. Clay, Mr. Webstkr, and other able Sena- 
tors of the opposition, by a vote of 24 to 23. At a subsequent 
session, however, it passed both Houses and became a law. 
Immediately after the election of 1840 Mr. Clay embraced 
the earliest opportunity to introduce a bill to repeal the In- 
dependent Treasury law, and thus to commence the work of 
establishing those great principles upon which he had acted 
all his life, and which were now sanctioned by an overwhel- 
ming majorityofthepeople.lt was not of course acted upon at 
this session. 

Congress adjourned on the 3d of March, and on the 4th 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 191 

General Harrison was inaugurated President of the United 
States. His election had been hailed by the Whigs of the 
Union as the consummation of their most ardent hopes, 
and strong confidence was entertained that the administra- 
tion of the government would be brought back to the purity 
and sound principles by which it had been marked up to the 
time of the election of Gen Jackson. A most able Cabinet 
was summoned to aid the President in the discharge of his 
most arduous and responsible duties, and by their advice, a 
proclamation was issued on the 18th of March, convening 
Congress in extra session on the last Monday in May. 

On the 4th of April General Harrison died ; and the news 
of his decease fell upon the country with appalling weight. 
The Presidential chair had never before been thus vacated, 
but strong confidence was felt that the constitutional provision 
for such an emergency would carry the country safely through 
the crisis which, to governments based upon different princi- 
ples from ours, so often proves the source of commotion and 
civil war. Mr. Tyler of course succeeded to the Presidency ; 
and, as he was believed to be an ardent and upright supporter 
of the leading measures of the great party which had placed 
him m power, and as he retained the constitutional advisers 
by whom President Harrison had surrounded himself, the 
popular party felt that their principles were reasonably safe 
in his hands, and that, although they had lost that great 
moral strength which General Harrison brought to the ad- 
ministration, the prominent political measures, to which he 
was known to be attached, would yet be carried into full and 
immediate effect. Congress met in extra session on the last 
Monday in May, 1841, and the message of the acting Presi- 
dent contained nothing that could reasonably excite distrust. 



192 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

A bill repealing the Independent Treasury law soon passed 
both Houses, and was allowed to become a law by the execu- 
tive. The next step in the returning path was to procure the 
incorporation of a United States Bank, which should regulate 
exchanges and control the currency. A plan for such an 
institution as was deemed necessary was reported in the Sen- 
ate by Mr. Clay, he having been appointed chairman of the 
Finance Committee. It passed both Houses, but was re- 
turned, to the surprise and alarm of the administration party, 
with the objections of the Executive. Mr. Tyler averred 
that he could not conscientiously sign a bill which proposed 
to give the Bank the power of discount — as such a power was 
liable to abuse, and he did not deem it constitutional. The 
veto message was received with sorrow in the Senate, and 
was discussed by Mr. Clay in a strain of lofty eloquence sel- 
dom equaled even by himself. Another bill was then fram- 
ed, with strict reference to the opinions of Mr. Tyler, in 
close accordance with his suggestions, and intended to obvi- 
ate all his scruples, as expressed both in his public message 
and in private conference. This, after considerable discus- 
sion, also passed both Houses and was sent to the acting 
President for his signature. As it was, in point of fact, his 
own bill — framed according to his dictation — his approval 
was confidently expected. But evil counsellors, " unknown 
to the Constitution," had been at work, and had infused into 
his mind jealousies and apprehensions which made the whole 
matter one of passion to himself, in which considerations of 
the country's good and of his own plighted faith were allowed 
no weight. He refused to sign the bill. This message was 
received in Congress with indignant eloquence. Mr. Clay 
had no hesitation in denouncing the exercise of the Veto 
power in this case, as he had done in that of Gen. Jacksok, 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 193 

as an unwarrantable extension of executive power, and as 
hostile to the liberties and prosperity of the nation. The 
members of the Cabinet, with the solitary exception of Mr. 
Webster, resigned their places, and a deep feeling of indig- 
nation was manifest throughout the country. 

The subsequent events are of so recent occurrence as to 
preclude the propriety of detailed exposition. A Land Bill, 
framed in strict accordance with the principles of Mr. Clay, 
and urged by his eloquent support, passed both Houses and 
became a law. According to its provisions, however, distri- 
bution was to cease whenever the average rate of duties on 
imports should exceed 20 per cent. The Bankrupt bill was 
matured and passed, and a revision of the Tariff, rendered 
necessary by the expiration of the Compromise Act, was un- 
dertaken. Notwithstanding the extreme embarrassment in 
which the subject was involved, a provisional bill was finally 
agreed upon, to meet the pressing exigency of the occasion, 
suspending the operation of the Distribution Bill for one 
month, in consequence of a lack of funds in the Treasury, 
and a desire, on the part of Congress, to give the subject a 
more mature consideration, before erecting a permanent 
Tariff. This bill also encountered the executive veto; and 
with it perished all hope of united, efficient action in carrying 
out those great principles which before had been cherished 
by Mr. Tyler, in common with the Whigs. 

On the 31st. of March, 1842, in pursuance of a design he 
had long before entertained, Mr. Clay resigned his seat in 
the Senate of the United States. Considerations of public 
duty had alone prevented him from doing this before : and in 
retiring at that time from the noble theatre in which he had 

25 



194 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

won such lofty fame and acted so proud a part, to the quiet 
shades of private life, he merely followed an intention which 
he had long and anxiously cherished. The scene which at- 
tended his resignation was one of deep interest. The Senate- 
Chamber was densely filled : all present — those Senators who 
had always been his warm and steady friends, and those with 
whom he had rarely or never acted — manifested the profound- 
est regard for his character and high abilities, and expressed 
the sincerest regret at his withdrawal from their midst. The 
address in which he bade them farewell, is marked by all the 
generous frankness and the deep feeling which are promi- 
nent traits of his personal character. Since his retirement to 
his home at Ashland, he has frequently met his fellow-citi- 
zens at public festivals given in his honor, and has always 
frankly avowed his political opinions and spread before them- 
the leading principles by which his whole public career has 
been guided. More enthusiastic receptions have recently been 
accorded to him at Lexington, in Kentucky, at Dayton, Ohio, 
and other places, than have often been granted to the most 
renowned men of the earth ; and the demonstrations of popu- 
lar favor have been most marked and universal. B}~ conven- 
tions in several of the States of the Union he has been nomi- 
nated as the candidate of the great party with which he has 
always acted, for the Presidency in 1844. He receives these 
public honors with dignity and gratitude — never shrinking 
from a declaration of all his principles, and courting the most 
rigid investigation into all the various actions of his extended 
public life. In the peaceful retirement of a happy home, he 
finds a welcome refuge from the cares and weighty responsi- 
bilities which have rested upon him for more than forty years 
of service to his country, offered in integrity, and discharged 
with an ability equaled by that of few statesmen in any age. 



MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 



195 



We have thus recorded the prominent public services of 
Henry Claa, with an historical sketch of his country, just 
sufficient to render them intelligible. His personal biogra- 
phy has been left untouched : but it will readily be seen that 
those noble qualities of mind and heart which have made so 
glorious his public life, must have invested his domestic rela- 
tions with the highest charms. He bears about him that 
surest mark of greatness, the power of being " great in little 
things :" of lending to the most common incidents of life a 
dignity which stamps them with the heroism of his personal 
character. In public life, he is the greatest statesman of his 
age. His eloquence, with which the nation is most familiar, 
is in fact one of the slightest elements of his fame : in a deep 
er source than this, resistless as it is, must be sought the secret 
of that power which has rested the nation upon his arm and 
interwoven his principles with the very framework of her 
policy. All the impulses of his heart — the instincts of his 
nature — are those of a statesman. No crisis, however sudden 
or fearful, surprises or disarms him. In the most perilous 
emergencies, when upon the counsel or decision of an hour 
hangs the fate of his country for years, his lofty mind moves 
with the same undaunted strength as in the most trivial con- 
cerns. In the beautiful words of Wordsworth, we may 
describe him as one, 

" Whose powers shed round him in the common strife, 
Or mild concerns, of ordinary life, 
A constant influence, a peculiar grace ; 
But who, if called upon to face 
Some awful moment, to which heaven has joined 
Great issues, good or bad, for human kind, 
Is happy as a lover— 13 attired 
With sudden brightness, like a man inspired ; 
And through the heat of conflict keeps the law 
la calmness made, and sees what he foresaw " 



196 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

In all his public life Mr. Clay has evinced a firm reliance 
upon great and enduring principles ; and in this, perhaps, may 
be found one chief secret of his power and foresight. A fun- 
damental truth is always stronger than any man ; and by 
building faith and firm reliance upon it the man shall receive 
a portion of its strength, and see, through the mists of the 
hour, the future to which it leads. The confidence of Mr. 
Clay in the leading political principles which have formed 
the rule of all his long public life, has sprung from a firm 
faith in their permanent truth, and not from that blind devo- 
tion to a rule, merely because it is abstract, which belongs, 
sometimes, to men who have something of greatness in them, 
but who lack the essential wisdom to profit by experience. 
Though firm in maintaining the rights of each portion of the 
State, he never allows a passionate and blind defence of them 
to plunge the whole into disaster and ruin. He feels that the 
principles on which our government is based, have a high 
worth — not only of themselves, but for the sake of the super- 
structure of happiness and glory we have erected upon them ; 
and the safety of this he is not willing to peril in their fruit- 
less defence. He has none of the zeal of that ignorant wor- 
shiper who dug beneath the ruins of the Ephesian temple for 
the fuel on which it rested, to feed the flame upon its altars. 
Though he has ever proved himself a zealous defender of the 
rights of man, in all countries and conditions, he never seeks 
the destruction of established order, regardless of the happi- 
ness of those most nearly concerned ; nor even in the asser- 
tion of Right would he deem it well to trample, with ruthless 
violence, upon all the institutions which might stand in his 
way, and rush headlong to the end, like the cannon ball, 

" Shattering that it may reach, and shattering what it reaches." 



MEMOIR OV HENRY CLAY. 



197 



His democratic principles, therefore, ardent and spontane- 
ous as they are, are tempered by a deep reverence for the 
permanent reason of the*State, and a profound regard for the 
well-being of his fellows. All his aspirations are to build up, 
not to tear down — to create, not to destroy. All the safe 
guards, then, which the sound wisdom of the people, tri- 
umphing and establishing a law over that of transient im- 
pulse, has thrown about individual rights, he reverences, 
and, so long as they seem to be needed, seeks to preserve. 
Like Schiller's Wallenstein, while he knows that the flight 
of destruction is straight and swift, he feels that, 

" the road the human being travels, 

That on which Blessing comes and goes, both follow 
The river's course, the valley's playful windings, 
Curves round the cornfield and the hill of vines, 
Honoring the holy bounds of property."* 

Mr. Clay has always been the proud champion of that 
political party which maintains the true purpose of civil gov- 
ernment to be, not merely the prevention of Wrong, but the 
establishment of Right, — not merely to define and punish 
offences, but to confer blessings and secure the highest good 
to those who live beneath its benignant sway. His public life 
has been consecrated to the development of this great princi- 
ple ; and if his efforts seem not yet to have been attended 
with full success, they have been oftentimes of saving service 
to the country ; and the eye of Hope sees in them the germ 
of a power which shall yet work itself free from all crushing 
calamity, and accomplish the great end for which it was first 
put forth. He is one of those great men whose influence, even 

* Coleridge's Translation. 



198 MEMOIR OF HENRY CLAY. 

when unseen and despised, is potent and controlling. The 
spirit of his life has wrought even more than his active efforts ; 
and, far more than any other stateftnan among us, he has 
thus given strength to those principles of public policy which 
alone conduct nations to the height of prosperity. The value 
of his public services can only be worthily set forth when 
candor shall have made a faithful record of his life and his 
acts : and just in proportion as that record is incomplete, will 
this great friend of mankind be defrauded of honor. It were 
rash and unwise to ask that his own age should rightly esteem 
and fully reward them. But, as in the old religion the light- 
ning made sacred the object upon which it fell, so even now 
does Death hallow the victim whom he strikes. Future 
generations will not lose sight of his worth : those words of 
wisdom which, uttered by his living voice, fall too unheeded 
upon our hearts, shall come from his tomb with power as 
from a holy place : for u such is the power of dispensing 
blessings, which Providence has attached to the truly great 
and good, that they cannot even die without advantage to 
their fellow creatures ; for death consecrates their example ; 
and the wisdom, which might have been slighted at the 
council-table, becomes oracular from the shrine." 



JB»D OF THE MBM«m 01 HfcRRS CLAY 



SPEECHES 



OF 



HENRY CLAY. 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 

In the Senate of the United States, December 25, 1810. 

[The region known as Florida, though discovered by Sebastian Cabot, an Eng- 
lish navigator, was first formally taken possession of by Ponce de Leon, a Spaniard, 
in behalf of the Spanish crown, and was thence deemed a possession of that crown 
A colony of French Protestants, who settled it in 1562, were overpowered and mur- 
dered by a Spanish force in 1565, in which year a Spanish colony was planted at St. 
Augustine. By the Treaty of Ryswick, in 1763, Florida was ceded to England, 
but restored to Spain by the Treaty of Paris, in 1783. It remained a Spanish pop- 
session down to its cession to the United States, for #5,000,000, in 1819. Louisian ; , 
on the other hand— that is, the River Mississippi— was first discovered by the 
French, in 1688, and a settlement made by them in 1699. It was ceded to Spain in 
1763, restored to France in 1S00, and purchased of Bonaparte, by the United 
States, in 1803, for the sum of #'15,000,000. And now a serious question soon arose 
as to the Boundary between the two Territories— Spain claiming that Florida ex- 
tended to the Mississippi, embracing all the then wilderness which now forms the 
States of Alabama and Mississippi ; while our Government claimed that Louisiana 
extended east to the Perdido, a small river running South into the Gulf of Mexico, 
sbout 50 miles east of Mobile, 150 east of New-Orleans and 30 west of PensaefoJa., 
President Madison solved the dispute in 1S10 by taking possession of Baton Rouge 
and Mobile, and extending the jurisdiction of the United States to the Perdido 
This act was assailed in Congress by the Federal Members, especially by Outer 
bbtpoe Housf.y, an eminent Senator from Delaware, who regarded it as an unjusti- 
fiable and offensive demonstration against Spain, fh^n putting forth all her en< :- 
gies in resistance to the treacherous usurpation and overwhelming force of Bona- 
parte. Mr. Clay replied in defence of Mr. Madiscn's course in the following 
Speech, demonstrating thc.t the Perdido was the true boundary between the twt. 
Territories, and accordingly it has since remained the western limit of Florida Tj 



4 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

It would have gratified me if some other gentleman had under- 
taken to reply to the ingenious argument which you have just heard. 
(Speech of Mr. Horsey.) But not perceiving any one disposed to 
do so, a sense of duty obliges me, though very unwell, to claim 
your indulgence, whilst I offer my sentiments on this subject, se 
interesting to the Union at large, but especially to the Western portion 
of it. Allow me, sir, to express my admiration at the more than 
Aristidean justice, which in a question of Territorial title, between 
the United States and a foreign nation, induces certain gentlemen to 
espouse the pretensions of the foreign nation. Doubtless, in any 
future negotiations, she will have too much magnanimity to avail 
herself of these spontaneous concessions in her favor, made on the 
floor of the Senate of the United States. 

It was to be expected that in a question like the present, gen- 
tlemen, even on the same side, would have different views, and 
although arriving at a common conclusion, would do so by various 
arguments. And hence the honorable gentleman from Vermont 
entertains doubt with regard to our title against Spain, whilst he feels 
entirely satisfied of it against France. Believing, as I do, that our 
title against both powers is indisputable, under the treaty of St. Ilde- 
fonso, between Spain and France, and the treaty between the French 
Republic and the United States, I shall not inquire into the treachery, 
by which the king of Spain is alledged to have lost his crown ; nor 
shall I stop to discuss the question involved in the overthrow of the 
Spanish monarchy, and how far the power of Spain ought to be con- 
sidered as merged in that of France. I shall leave the honorable 
gentleman from Delaware to mourn over the fortunes of the fallen 
Charles. I have no commiseration for princes. My sympathies 
are reserved for the great mass of mankind, and I own that the 
people of Spain have them most sincerely. 

I will adopt the course suggested by the nature of the subject, 
, and pursued by other gentlemen, of examining into our title to the 
country lying between the Mississippi and the Rio Perdido, <^ which, 
to avoid circumlocution, I will call West Florida, although it is not 
the whole of it,) and the propriety of the recent measures taken for 
the occupation of that territory. Our title, then, depends, first, upon 
the limits of the province, or colony of Louisiana, and secondly, 
upon a just exposition of the treaties before mentioned. 



OX THE UNE OF THE PERDIDO. 5 

On this occasion it is only necessary to fix the eastern boundary. 
In order to ascertain this, it will be proper to take a cursory view of 
the settlement of the country, because the basis of European title to 
colonies in America, is prior discovery, or prior occupancy. In 
1682, La Salle migrated from Canada, then owned by France, de- 
scended the Mississippi, and named the country which it waters, 
Louisiana. About 1698, D'Iberville discovered by sea the mouth 
of the Mississippi, established a colony at the Isle Dauphine, or 
Massacre, which lies at the mouth of the bay of Mobile, and one at 
the mouth of the river Mobile, and was appointed by France, Govern- 
or of the country. In the year 1717, the famous West India Com- 
pany sent inhabitants to the Isle Dauphine, and found some of those 
who had been settled there under the auspices of D'Iberville. About 
the same period, Biloxi, near the Pascagoula, was settled. In 1719, 
the city of New Orleans was laid off, and the seat of government of 
Louisiana was established there ; and in 1736, the French erected a 
fort on the Tombigbee. These facts prove that France had the 
actual possession of the country as far east as the Mobile at least. 
But the great instrument which ascertains, beyond all doubt, that the 
country in question is comprehended within the limits of Louisiana, 
is one of the most authentic and solemn character which the archives 
of a nation can furnish ; I mean the patent granted in 1712 by Louis 
XIV. to Crozat. 

" FoifTAiNBLEAtr, September 14, 1712. 
" Louis, By the grace of God, Sfc. 

" The care we have always had to procure the welfare and advantage of our sub- 
jects, having induced us, <fec. to seek, for all possible opportunities of enlarging and 
extending the trade of our American colonies, we did, in the year 1683, give our 
orders to undertake a discovery of the countries and lands which are situated in the 
northern part of America, between New France and New Mexico ; and the Sieur de 
la Salle, to whom we committed that enterprise, having had success enough to con- 
firm a belief that a communication might be settled, from Nero France to the Gvlfof 
Mexico, by means of large rivers, this obliged us, immediately after the peace of 
llvswick. to give orders for establishing acolonv there, and maintaining a garrison, 
which has kept and preserved the possession we had taken in the very year 1683, of the 
lands, coasts, and islands which are situated in the Gvlfof Mexico bet men Carolina 
on the east, and Old and New Mexico on the west. But a new war having broke 
out in Europe shortly after, there was no possibility, till now, of reaping from that 
Colony the advantages that might have been expected' from thence, &c. And 
whereas, upon the information we have received concerning the disposition and 
situation of the said countries, known at present by the name of the Province of Louis- 
iana, we are of opinion, that, there may be established therein considerable com- 
merce, &c. we have resolved to grant the commerce of the country of Louisiana to 
the Sieur Anthony Crozat, &c. For these reasons, &c, we, by these presents, 
signed by our hand, have appointed and do appoint the said Sieur Crozat, to carry 
on a trade in all the lands possessed by us, and bounded by New Mexico and by the 
lands of the English of Carolina all the establishments, ports, havens, rivers, and 
principally the port and haven of the Isle Dauphine, heretofore called Massacre ; the 
river of St. Louis, with the river St. Philip, heretofore called the Missouri, and of 
St. Jerome, heretofore called Oiabache, with all the countries, territories, and lakes 



6 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

within land, and the rirers which fall directly or indirectly into that part of the 
river St. Louie. 

" The Articles. — 1. Our pleasure is, that all the aforesaid lands, countries, streams, 
rivers, and islands be, and re-main comprised under the name of the government of 
Louisiana, which shall be dependent upon the general government of New France, 
to which it is subordinate : and further, that all the lands which we possess from the 
Illinois, be united, &c. to the general government of New France, and become part 
thereof, Sec." 

According to this document, in describing the province, or colony 
of Louisiana, it is declared to be bounded by Carolina on the east, 
and Old and New-Mexico on the west. Under this high recorded 
evidence, it might be insisted that we have a fair claim to East as well 
as West Florida, against France at least, unless she has by some 
Convention, or other obligatory act, restricted the eastern limit of the 
province. It has, indeed, been asserted that by a treaty between 
France and Spain, concluded in the year 1719, the Perdido was ex- 
pressly stipulated to be the boundary between their respective prov- 
inces of Florida on the east, and Louisiana on the west ; but as 1 
have been unable to find any such treaty, I am induced to doubt its 
existence. 

About the same period, to wit : towards the close of the seven- 
teenth century, whea France settled the Isle Dauphine and the Mo- 
bile, Spain erected a fort at Pensacola. But Spain never pushed her 
actual settlements or conquests farther west than the bay of Pen- 
sacola, whilst those of the French were bounded on the east by the 
Mobile. Between these two points, a space of about thirteen or 
fourteen leagues, neither nation had the exclusive possession. The 
Rio Perdido, forming the bay of the same name, discharges itself 
into the Gulf of Mexico, between the Mobile and Pensacola, and, 
being a natural and the most notorious object between them, pre- 
sented itself as a suitable boundary between the possessions of the 
two nations. It accordingly appears very early to have been adopted 
as the boundary by tacit, if not expressed, consent. The an- 
cient historians, therefore, of the country, so represent it. Ehi- 
pratz, one of the most accurate historians of the time, in point of 
fact and detail, whose work was published as early as 1758, describes 
the coast as being bounded on the east by the Rio Perdido. In truth, 
sir, no European nation whatever, except France, ever occupied any 
portion of West Florida, prior to her cession of it to England in 1762. 
The gentlemen on the other side do not, indeed, strongly controvert, 
if they do not expressly admit, that Louisiana, as held by the French 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 7 

anterior to her cessions of it in 1762, extended to the Perdido. The 
only observation made by the gentleman from Delaware to the con- 
trary, to wit, that the Island of New Orleans being particularly 
mentioned, could not, for that reason, constitute a part of Louisiana, 
is susceptible of a very satisfactory answer. That island was ex- 
cepted out of the grant to England, and was the only part of the 
province east of the river that was so excepted. It formed in itself 
one of the most prominent and important objects of the cession to 
Spain originally, and was transferred to her with the portion of the 
province west of the Mississippi. It might with equal propriety be 
urged that St. Augustine is not in East Florida, because St. Augus- 
tine is expressly mentioned by Spain in her cession of that province 
to England. From this view of the subject, I think it results that 
the province of Louisiana comprised West Florida previous to the 
year 1762. 

What was done with it at this epoch ? By a secret Convention, of 
the 3d of November of that year, France ceded the country lying west 
of the Mississippi, and the Island of New Orleans, to Spain ; and by a 
contemporaneous act, the articles preliminary to the definitive treaty 
of 1763, she transferred West Florida to England. Thus, at the same 
instant of time, she alienated the whole province. Posterior to this 
grant, Great Britain having also acquired from Spain her possessions 
east of the Mississippi, erected the country into two provinces, East 
and West Florida. In this state of things it continued until the peace 
of 1783, when Great Britain, in consequence of the events of the war, 
surrendered the country to Spain, who for the first time came into 
actual possession of West Florida. Well, sir, how does she dispose 
of it ? She re-annexes it to the residue of Louisiana — extends the 
jurisdiction of that government to it, and subjects the Governors, or 
Commandants, of the district of Baton Rouge, Feliciana, Mobile, and 
Pensacola, to the authority of the Governor of Louisiana, residing at 
New Orleans ; while the Governor of East Florida is placed whollj 
without his control, and is made amenable directly to the Governor 
of the Havana. « Indeed, sir, I have been credibly informed that all 
the concessions, or grants of land, made in West Florida, under the 
authority of Spain, run in the name of the Government of Louisiana. 
You cannot have forgotten that, about the period when we took pos- 
session of New Orleans, under the Treaty of cession from France, 
the whole country resounded with the nefarious speculations which 



8 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

were alledged to be making in that City with the connivance, if r<ot 
actual participation, of the Spanish authorities, by the procurement ot 
surreptitious grants of land, particularly in the district of Feliciana. 
West Florida, then, not only as France had held it, but as it was in 
the hands of Spain, made a part of the Province of Louisiana ; as 
much so as the jurisdiction or district of Baton Rouge constituted a 
part of West Florida. 

What, then, is the true construction of the Treaties of St. Ildefonso, 
and of April, 1803, whence our title is derived ? If any ambigu- 
ity exist in a grant, the interpretation most favorable to the grantee 
is preferred. It was the duty of the grantor to express himself 
in plain and intelligible terms. This is the doctrine, not of Coke 
only, (whose dicta, I admit, have nothing to do with the question,) but 
of the code of universal law. The doctrine is entitled to augmented 
force, when a clause only of the instrument is exhibited, in which 
clause the ambiguity lurks, and the residue of the instrument is kept 
back by the grantor. The entire Convention of 1762, by which 
France transferred Louisiana to Spain, is concealed, and the whole 
of the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, except a solitary clause. We are thus 
deprived of the aid which a full view of both of those instruments 
would afford. But we have no occasion to resort to any rules of 
construction, however reasonable in themselves, to establish our title. 
A competent knowledge of the facts connected with the case, and a 
candid appeal to the Treaties, are alone sufficient to manifest our 
right. The negotiators of the Treaty of 1S03 having signed, with 
the same ceremony, two copies, one in English and the other in the 
French language, it has been contended that in the English version, 
the term " cede" has been erroneously used instead of " retrocede," 
which is the expression in the French copy. And it is argued that 
we are bound by the phraseology of the French copy, because it is 
declared that the Treaty was agreed to in that language. It would 
not be very unfair to inquire if this is not like the common case in 
private life, where individuals enter into a contract, of which each 
party retains a copy, duly executed. In such case, neither has the 
preference. We might as well say to France, we will cling by the 
English copy, as she could insist upon an adherence to the French 
copy ; and if she urged ignorance on the part of M. Marbois, her 
negotiator, of our language, we might with equal propriety plead 
ignorance on the part of our negotiators of her language. As this, 



ON THE LINE OF THE PERDIDO. 9 

however, is a disputable point, I do not avail myself of it ; gentlemen 
shall have the full benefit of the expressions in the French copy. 
According to this, then, in reciting the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, it is 
declared by Spain, in 1800, that she retrocedes to France the Colony 
or Province of Louisiana, with the same extent which it then had in 
the hands of Spain, and which it had when France possessed it, and 
such as it should be after the Treaties subsequently entered into be- 
tween Spain and other states. This latter member of the description 
has been sufficiently explained by my colleague. 

It is said that since France, in 1762, ceded to Spain only Louisiana 
west of the Mississippi, and the Island of New Orleans, the retroces- 
sion comprehended no more — that the retrocession ex vi termini was 
commensurate with, and limited by, the direct cession'from France to 
Spain. If this were true, then the description, such as Spain held it, 
that is in 1800, comprising West Florida, and such as France pos- 
sessed it, that is in 1762, prior to the several sessions, comprising also 
West Florida, would be totally inoperative. But the definition of the 
term retrocession, contended for by the other side, is denied. It does 
not exclude the instrumentality of a third party. It means resto- 
ration, or re-conveyance of a thing originally ceded, and so the gen- 
tleman from Delaware acknowledged. I admit that the thing restored 
must have come to the restoring party from the party to whom it is 
retroceded ; whether directly or indirectly is wholly immaterial. In 
its passage it may have come through a dozen hands. The retroced- 
ing party must claim under and in virtue of the right originally pos- 
sessed by the party to whom the retrocession takes place. Allow me 
to put a case : You own an estate called Louisiana. You convey one 
moiety of it to the gentleman from Delaware, and the other to me ; 
he conveys his moiety to me, and I thus become entitled to the whole. 
By a suitable instrument I re-convey, or retrocede the estate called 
Louisiana to you as I now hold it, and as you held it ; what passes to 
you? The whole estate, or my moiety only? Let me indulge an- 
other supposition — that the gentleman from Delaware, after he re- 
ceived from you his moiety, bestowed a new denomination upon it 
and called it West Florida — would that circumstance vary the opera- 
tion of my act of retrocession to you ? The case supposed is in truth 
the real one between the United States and Spain. France, in 1762, 
transfers Louisiana, west of the Mississippi, to Spain, and at the same 
time conveys the eastern portion of it, exclusive of New Orleans, to 



StO SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Great Britain. Twenty-one years after, that is, in 1783, Great 
Britain cedes her part to Spain, who thus becomes possessed of the 
entire province ; one portion by direct cession from France, and the 
residue by indirect cession. Spain then held the whole of Louisiana 
under France, and in virtue of the title of France. The whole moved 
or passed from France to her. When, therefore, in this state of things, 
she says, in the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, that she retrocedes the Prov- 
ince to France, can a doubt exist that she parts with, and gives back 
to France, the entire colony ? To preclude the possibility of such a 
doubt, she adds, that she restores it, not in a mutilated condition, but 
in that precise condition in which France had, and she herself pos- 
sessed it. 

Having thus shown, as I conceive, a clear right in the United 
States to West Florida, I proceed to inquire if the proclamation of 
the President directing the occupation of property, which is thus fairly 
acquired by solemn Treaty, be an unauthorized measure of war and 
of legislation, as has been contended ? 

The act of October, 1803, contains two sections, by one of which 
the President is authorized to occupy the Territories ceded to us by 
France in the April preceding. The other empowers the President 
to establish a Provisional Government there. The first section is 
unlimited in its duration ; the other is restricted to the expiration of 
the then session of Congress. The act therefore of March, 1804, 
declaring that the previous act of October should continue in force 
until the 1st of October, 1804, is applicable to the second and not the 
first section, and was intended to continue the Provisional Govern- 
ment of the President. By the act of 24th February, 1804, for lay- 
ing duties on goods imported into the ceded Territories, the President 
is empowered, whenever he deems it expedient, to erect the Bay and 
River Mobile, &c into a separate district, and to establish therein a 
port of entry and delivery. By this same act the Orleans Territory- 
is laid off, and its boundaries are so defined as to comprehend West 
Florida. By other acts, the President is authorized to remove by 
force, under certain circumstances, persons settling on or taking pos- 
session of lands ceded to the United States. 

These laws furnish a legislative construction of the Treaty, corres- 
ponding with that given by the Executive, and they indisputably vest 



ON THE LINE OK THE FEKDIDO. 11 

in this branch of the General Government the power to take possession 

of the country, whenever it might be proper in his discretion. The 
President has not, therefore, violated the Constitution and usurped the 
war -making power, but he would have violated that provision which 
requires him to see that the laws are faithfully executed, if he had 
longer forborne to act. It is urged that he has assumed powers be- 
longing to Congress, in undertaking to annex the portion of West 
Florida, between the Mississippi and the Perdido, to the Orleans Ter- 
ritory. But Congress, as has been shown, has already made this 
annexation, the limits of the Orleans Territory, as prescribed by 
Congress, comprehending the country in question. The President, 
by his proclamation, has not made law, but has merely declared to 
the people of West Florida what the law is. This is the office of a 
proclamation, and it was highly proper that the people of that Terri- 
tory should be thus notified. By the act of occupying the country, 
the government de facto, whether of Spain or the revolutionists, 
ceased to exist ; and the laws of the Orleans Territory, applicable to 
the country, by the operation and force of law attached to it. But 
this was a state of things which the people might not know, and 
which every dictate of justice and humanity therefore required should 
be proclaimed. I consider the bill before us merely in the light of a 
declaratory law. 

Never could a more propitious moment present itself for the exer- 
cise of the discretionary power placed in the President, and had he 
failed to embrace it, he would have been criminally inattentive to the 
dearest interests of this country. It cannot be too often repeated, 
that if Cuba on the one hand, and Florida on the other, are in the 
possession of a foreign maritime power, the immense extent of coun- 
try belonging to the United States, and watered by streams discharg- 
ing themselves into the Gulf of Mexico — that is one-third,, nay, more 
than two-thirds of the United States, comprehending Louisiana, are 
placed at the mercy of that power. The possession of Florida is a 
guarantee absolutely necessary to the enjoyment of the navigation of 
those streams. The gentleman from Delaware anticipates the most 
direful consequences from the occupation of the country. He sup- 
poses a sally from a Spanish garrison upon the American forces, and 
asks what is to be done ? We attempt a peaceful possession of the 
country to which we are fairly entitled. If the wrongful occupants 
under the authority of Spain assail our troops, I trust they will le- 



12 SPEECHES 01' HENRY CLAY. 

trieve the lost honor of the nation in the case of the Chesapeake. 
Suppose an attack upon any portion of the American army within 
the acknowledged limits of the United States by a Spanish force ? 
In such event there would exist hut a single honorable and manly 
course. The gentleman conceives it ungenerous that we should at 
this moment, when Spain is encompassed and pressed on all sides by 
the immense power of her enemy, occupy West Florida. Shall we 
sit by passive spectators, and witness the interesting transactions of 
that country — transactions which tend, in the most imminent degree, 
to jeopard our rights, without attempting to interfere ? Are you 
prepared to see a foreign power seize what belongs to us ? I have 
heard in the most credible manner that, about the period when the 
President took his measures in relation to that country, agents of a 
foreign power were intriguing with the people there, to induce them 
to come under his dominion : but whether this be the fact or not, it 
cannot be doubted that, if you neglect the present auspicious moment 
— if you reject the proffered boon, some other nation, profiting by 
your errors, will seize the occasion to get a fatal footing in your 
southern frontier. I have no hesitation in saying, that if a parent 
country will not or cannot maintain its authority in a Colony adjacent 
to us, and there exists in it a state of misrule and disorder, menacing 
our peace, and if moreover such Colony, by passing into the hands 
of any other power, would become dangerous to the integrity of the 
Union, and manifestly tend to the subversion of our laws, we have a 
right, upon the eternal principles of self-preservation, to lay hola 
upon it. This principle alone, independent of any title, would war- 
rant our occupation of West Florida. But it is not necessary to 
resort to it, our title being in my judgment incontestable good. , We 
are told of the vengeance of resuscitated Spain. If Spain, under any 
modification of her government, choose to make war upon us, for the 
act under consideration, the nation, I have no doubt, will be willing 
to embark in such a contest. But the gentleman reminds us that 
Great Britain, the ally of Spain, may be obliged, by her connexion 
with that country, to take part with her against us, and to consider 
this measure of the President as justifying an appeal to arms. Sir, 
is the time never to arrive when we may manage our own affairs 
without the fear of insulting His Britannic Majesty ': Is the rod of 
British power to be for ever suspended over our heads ? Does Con- 
gress put on an embargo to shelter our rightful commerce against the 
piratical deprecations committed upon it on the ocean — we are imme- 



on : i'.r. i.tne of the perdido. 18 

diately warned of the indignation of offended England. Is a law of 
non-intercourse proposed — the whole navy of the haughty mistress 
of the seas is made to thunder in our ears. Does the President 
refuse to continue a correspondence with a minister who violates the 
decorum belonging to his diplomatic character, by giving and delibe- 
rately repeating an affront to the whole nation — we arc instantly 
menaced with the chastisement which English pride will not fail to 
inflict. Whether we assert our rights by sea, or attempt their main- 
tenance by land — whithersoever we turn ourselves, this phantom 
incessantly pursues us. Already has it had too much influence on 
the councils of the nation. It contributed to ihe repeal of the embargo 
— that dishonorable repeal, which has so much tarnished the charac- 
ter ef <mr government. Mr. President, I have before said on this 
floor, and now take occasion to remark, that I most sincerely desire 
peace and amity with England ; that I even prefer an adjustment of 
all differences with her, before one with any other nation. But if 
she persists in a denial of justice to us, or if she avails herself df the 
occupation of West Florida to commence war upon us, I trust and 
hope that all hearts Mill unite in a bold and vigorous vindication of 
our rights. I do not believe, however, in the prediction that war 
will be the effect of the measure in question. 

It is asked why, some years ago, when the interruption of the 
right of deposite took place at New Orleans, the government did not 
declare war against Spain, and how has it happened that there has 
been this long acquiescence in the Spanish possesion of West Flori- 
da? The answer is obvious. It consists in the genius of the nation, 
which is prone to peace ; in that desire to arrange, by friendly nego- 
tiation, our disputes with all nations, which has constantly influenced 
the present and preceding administrations; and in the jealousy of ar- 
mies, with which Ave have been inspired by the melancholy experi- 
ence of free states. But a new state of things has arisen : negotia- 
tion has become hopeless. The power with whom it was to be con- 
ducted, if not annihilated, is in a situation that precludes it ; and the 
subject matter of it is in danger of being snatched for ever from our 
power. Longer delay would be construed into a dereliction of our 
right, and would amount to treachery to ourselves. May I ask, in 
rny turn, why certain gentlemen, now so fearful of -war, were so ur- 
gent for it with Spain when she withheld the right of deposite ? and 
still later, when in 1805 or '6 this very subject of the actual limits of 

27 



11 SPEECHES OF HENRV CLATT. 

Louisiana was before Congress ? I will not say, because I do not 
know that I am authorized to say, that the molfre is to be found in 
the change of relation between Spain and other European powers, 
since those periods. 

Does the honorable gentleman from Delaware really believe that 
he finds in St. Domingo a case parallel with that of West Florida? 
and that our government, having an illicit commerce with the former, 
ought not to have interposed in relation to the latter ? It is scarcely 
necessary to consume your time by remarking that we had no pre- 
tensions to that island ; that it did not menace our repose, nor did the 
,«afety of the United States require that they should occupy it. It 
became, therefore, our duty to attend to the just remonstrance oi 
France against American citizens supplying the rebels with the means 
of resisting her power. 

I am not, sir, in favor of cherishing the passion of couquest. But 
] must be permitted, in conclusion, to indulge the hope of seeing, ere 
long, the new United States, (if you will allow me the expression,) 
embracing, not only the old thirteen States, but the entire country 
east of the Mississippi, including East Florida, and some of the ter- 
ritories to the north of us also. 



ON ARMING FOR WAR WITH ENGLAND, 

In the House of Representatives., December 31, 1811. 



IThe patience of the Nation having been utterly exhausted by a long seriee of 
most flagrant outrages on our Rights and Independence by Great Britain, in the 
harassing of our Commerce, Searching of our Vessels, Impressment of our Sea- 
men, dec, President Madison transmitted to Congress, on its assembling, November 
4, 1811, a Message recommending decisive measures for the vindication of our Na- 
tional honor, and the redress of our wrongs. The subject immediately became 
?he engrossing one, and many Members spoke in earnest deprecation of War mea- 
sures — among them John Randolph, of Virginia, with great energy and eloquence. 
The Committee on Foreign Relations having reported a series of Resolutions 
echoing the sentiments of the Message, arid proposing the immediate increase of 
the Army, they were debated at length and adopted. A Bill was thereupon framed 
in and passed by the Senate, proposing to raise thirteen additional regiments for 
the public service. This Bill having reached the House, and being under consi- 
deration in Committee of the Whole, Mr. Clay (who had entered the House a new 
Member, aged S4, at the opening of that Session, and been immediately chosen 
Speaker by a vote of 75 to 4-4,) rose and addressed the Committee as follows :] 

When the subject of raising an additional military force was dis- 
cussed some days past, it was the pleasure of the House not to deli- 
berate on it in Committee of the Whole. I should not complain of 
this course of proceeding, nor indeed of any other which they might 
think fit to take on any other occasion ; but the effect was to pre- 
clude me from participating in debate ; from taking upon myself that 
share of responsibility for measures which it has become necessary to 
adopt at the present moment; a responsibility from which I shall 
never shrink at any period or on any subject. I owe it to myself, to 
my constituents, and to rny country to express, on this occasion, my 
views of the great interests involved in the bill under consideration. 

The first question which presents itself, in relation to this bill, is 
as to the quantum of force which it proposes to raise. Is it too large 
or too small — too strong or too weak ? The contemplated army is, 
to my mind, too great for peace ; and I am fearful, far as it is above 
the wishes of some of those with whom I generally have the honor ta 



16 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

act, that it is too small for the purposes of war. The bill provides 
for the raising of twenty-five thousand troops ; the bill recently 
passed was intended to complete the enlistment for six thousand 
more. The whole would amount to thirty-one thousand. Deduct- 
ing for sickness, to which raw troops are peculiarly exposed, and for 
other deficiencies, a reasonable number of these troops, and to give 
the most favorable result, we shall not raise by both bills more than 
twenty or twenty-five thousand effective men. Could a country 
boundless in extent, with a numerous line of forts and garrisons, 
liable to invasions and predatory incursions at every point, be de- 
fended, and at the same time a war carried on, by a less number of 
regulars than twenty-five thousand ? " If the legislative councils 
err in such a case, they ought to err on the side of safety and vigor. 
The question is — will you embark in a war which shall be feeble and 
protracted to a great length of time, or will you make a vigorous 
stroke and put an end to this territorial war at once ? Canada is the 
avowed object. Suppose you conquer Upper Canada, you must 
leave men behind to hold it. when you march to Quebec. Your rear 
must be protected ; it would be a new mode of warfare to leave it 
unprotected ! Gentlemen will be deceived, if they calculate upon 
the treason of the Canadian people. Well, sir, you lay siege to 
Quebec, garrisoned, I am informed, by seven or eight thousand 
British forces ; you must have at least double that number to take 
possession of the place. Suppose Quebec reduced ; high as is my 
sense of the valor of my countrymen, I do not believe that militia 
or volunteers could be obtained to retain it for as long a period as 
would be necessary. But in respect to the question of economy, I 
conceive that it would be more expedient to raise a large force at 
once. With an army of twenty-five thousand men, the territorial 
war would probably terminate in one year ; while it would last, 
waged with eight or ten thousand troops, three or four years. I 
said the territorial war ; for it is probable that for years after the 
enemy shall be driven from the provinces, hostilities may be 
prosecuted on the ocean. So much for the quantum of the proposed 
force Were I to amplify, as well I might ; were I to draw too 
extensively on the patience of the C jmmittee, they might feel dis- 
jwserl to protest my draft. 

I advance to the consideration of the nature of the troops. Our 
republican jealousies ; our love of liberty ; the danger of standing 



ON ARMING l'OR WAR WITH ENGLAND 17 

armies, are themes which have been successfully touched, in (lis 
cussing the subject before the Committee, at least so far as our feel- 
ings are concerned, however little weight they may have produced 
on our judgment. I do not stand on this floor as the advocate of 
standing armies in time of peace ; but when war becomes essential, 
I am the advocate of raising able and vigorous armies to ensure its 
success. The danger of armies in peace arises from their idleness 
and dissipation ; their corrupted habits, which mould them to the 
will of ambitious chieftains. We have been the subject of abuse for 
years by tourists through this country, whether on horseback or on 
foot, in prose or in poetry ; but although we may not have exhibited 
as many great instances of discoveries and improvements in science, 
as the long established nations of Europe, the mass of our people 
possess more general political information than any people on earth ; 
such information is universally diffused among us. This circum- 
stance is one security against the ambition of military leaders. An- 
other barrier is derived from the extent of the country, and the mill- 
ions of people spread over its face. Paris was taken, and all France 
consequently subjugated. London might be subdued, and England 
would fall before the conqueror. But the population and strength of 
this country are concentrated in no one place. Philadelphia may be 
invaded ; New York or Boston may fall ; every seaport may be 
taken ; but the country will remain free. The whole of our Terri- 
tory on this side of the Alleghany maybe invaded ; still liberty will 
not be subdued. We have or will soon have eighteen state govern- 
ments, capable and possessing .the right to apply their immense pecu- 
niary and physical military resources to oppose any daring usurper 
who may attempt to prostrate our liberties. The national govern- 
ment ; one or more of the state sovereignties, may be annihilated ; 
the country will yet be safe. We possess another security against 
the dangers of armies in the great body of militia. I hope to God 
that ere long we shall see every man proudly shoulder a musket to 
defend his liberties. Massachusetts at this time presents the noble 
spectacle of fifty or sixty thousand of her citizens with arms in their 
hands, ready to point their bayonets to the breast of any tyrant who 
may attempt to crush their freedom. And with all these securities, 
do gentlemen seriously apprehend danger from a pitiful army of 25 
or 30,000 men ? I trust not. 

I must beg leave to differ with those gentlemen who have thought 



18 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAT. 

it improper to debate upon war in the face of day. It is impossible to 
conceal the measures of preparation for war. Have gentlemen ever 
known of a war between France and Russia, for example, without 
receiving accounts of its being meditated for weeks and months 
before it actually took place ? You may pass your laws in secret, 
but you cannot secretly execute them. Men must be raised ; car/ 
they be enlisted in the dark ? I feel no difficulty on this point. 

Gentlemen have inquired, what will be gained by the contem- 
plated war ? I ask, in turn, what will you not lose by your mongrel 
state of peace with Great Britain ? Do you expect to gain any thing 
in a pecuniary view ? No, sir. Look at your treasury reports. 
We now receive only six millions of revenue annually ; and this 
amount must be diminished in the same proportion as the rigorous 
execution of the orders in council shall increase. Before these orders 
existed, we received sixteen millions. We lose, then, to the amount 
of ten millions of revenue per annum by our present peace- A war 
would probably produce the repeal of the orders in council ; and our 
revenue would be restored ; our commerce would flourish ; our 
wealth and prosperity would advance. But certain gentlemen tell 
us to repeal the non-importation, and then we shall have commerce 
and revenue. Admit that we could be guilty of so gross an act of 
perfidy, after we have voluntarily pledged our faith to that power 
which should revoke its hostile edicts, to enforce against its enemy 
this non-importation ; admit this ; repeal your laws ; and what will 
be the consequence ? We shall present the strange phenomenon of 
an import without an export trade. We should become bankrupt, if 
we should thus carry on a trade. Where would our produce find 
vent r Under the British orders, we cannot send it to the markets of 
continental Europe. Will Great Britain take our exports ? She has 
no market for them ; her people can find use for only a small portion 
of them. By a continuance of this peace, then, we shall lose our 
commerce, our character, and a nation's best attribute, our honor. 
A war will give us commerce and character ; and we shall enjoy the 
proud consciousness of having discharged our highest duty to our 
country. 

But England, it seems, is lighting the battles of mankind ; and we 
are asked, shall we weaken her magnanimous efforts ? For argu- 
ment's sake, let us concede the fact, that the French Emperor is aim- 



ON ARMING FOR WAR WITH ENGLAND- 19 

ing at universal empire ; can Great Britain challenge our sympathies, 
when, instead of putting forth her arms to protect the world, she has 
converted the war into a means of self-aggrandizement ; when, under 
pretence of defending them, she has destroyed the commerce and 
trampled on the rights of every nation ; when she has attempted to 
annihilate every vestige of the public maritime code of which she 
professes to be the champion ? Shall we bear the cuffs and scoffs of 
British arrogance, because we may entertain chimerical fears of 
French subjugation ? Shall we swallow the potion of British poison, 
lest we may be presented with the imperial dose ? Arc we called 
upon to bow to the mandates of royal insolence, as a preparation to 
contend against Gallic usurpation ? Who ever learned in the school 
of base submission, the lessons of noble freedom, and courage, and 
independence ? Look at Spain. Did she secure her independence 
by submitting, in the first instance, to the dictates of imperial usurpa- 
tions ? No, sir. If she had resisted the first intrusion into her coun- 
cils, her monarch Avould not at this time be a miserable victim in the 
dungeons of Marseilles. We cannot secure our independence of one 
power, by a dastardly submission to the will of another. But look 
at our own history. Our ancestors of the Revolution resisted the first 
encroachments ot British tyranny. They foresaw that by submitting 
to pay an illegal tax, contemptible as that was in itself, their liber- 
ties would ultimately be subverted. Consider the progress of the 
present disputes with England. For what were we contending the 
other day ? For the indirect colonial carrying trade. That has van- 
ished. For what are we now deliberating ? For the direct export 
and import trade ; the trade in our own cotton, and tobacco, and fish. 
Give this up, and to-morrow we must take up arms for our right to 
pass from New York to Now Orleans ; from the upper country on 
James River to Richmond. Sir, when did submission to one wrong 
induce an adversary to cease his encroachments on the party submit- 
ting? But we are told that we ought only to go to war when our 
territory is invaded How much bettor than invasion is the block- 
ing of our very ports and harbors ; insulting our towns ; plundering 
our merchants, and scouring our coasts ? If our fields are surrounded, 
are they in a better condition than if invaded ' J When the murtiofpr 
is at our doors, shall we meanly skulk to our cells ? Or shall we 
boldly oppose him at his entrance . : 

1 could wish the post were buried in oblivion. But we cannot 



20 SPEECHE3 OF HKNRT CLAT". 

shut our eyes. The other day, the pretence for the orders in council 
was retaliation for the French edicts. The existence of these edicts 
was made the ground of Sir William Scott, for the condemnation of 
the Fox and others. It will be recollected that Sir William had 
delayed his sentence in the celebrated case, that proof of the repeal 
of the French decrees might be produced. They were produced. 
Nevertheless the condemnation took place. But the plea of retalia- 
tion has given way to other pretexts and other claims. To the 
astonishment of all mankind, the British envoy has demanded as a 
preliminary to the revocation of the orders in council, that the United 
States shall cause the continental ports to be opened for the admis- 
sion of British manufactures ! We are required to compel France 
to repeal her municipal code itself ! Sir, these are some of the mo- 
tives of tbe British hostility towards our commerce. She sickens at 
our prosperity ; she is jealous of us ; she dreads our rivalship on the 
ocean. If you doubt this, look at our trade in 1806. Our trade 
with England was twelve or thirteen millions in her favor. We 
bought fifty millions worth of her manufactures, and supplied the 
raw materials for those very manufactures. We furnished her with 
the necessaries of life, and in exchange, accepted her luxuries. 
How was our trade with France and Holland ? Our exports to both 
these countries amounted to eighteen millions, our imports to twenty- 
five millions. Considering the superiority in trade with us, which 
Great Britain enjoyed over her rival, would she have relinquished 
that superiority, would she have given up her profitable trade, for the 
single purpose of humbling that of her antagonist ? Would she have 
hazarded the evils of a war with this country for this object ? No, 
sir, she sees in our numberless ships, whose sails spread upon every 
sea; she perceives in our hundred and twenty thousand gallant tars, 
the seeds of a naval force, which in thirty years, will rival her on 
her own element. She therefore commences the odious system of 
impressment, of which no language can paint my indignant execra 
tion ; she dares to attempt the subversion of the personal freedom ot 
our mariners. She aims at depressing our commerce, which she 
foresees will induce our seamen to enter her service, will impair the 
means of cherishing our navy, of protecting and extending our com- 
merce, and will at the same time raise her own power. 

Sir, we are told this government is not calculated to stand the 
shock of war ; that gentlemen will lose their seats in this and the 
other House ; that our benches will be filled by other men, who after 



Off ARMING FOR WAR WITH ENGLAND. 21 

we have carried on the war, will make for us an ignominious peace. 
I cannot believe that to retain their seats is the extent of the amor 
patricR of gentlemen in this House. Can we let our brave coun- 
trymen, a Daviess and his associates in arms, perish in manfully 
fighting our battles, while we meanly cling to our places ? But I 
cannot persuade myself that the nation will be ungrateful. I am con- 
vinced that when they know that their government has been strictly 
impartial towards the belligerents — for surely no gentleman in this 
House can be so base as to ascribe partiality or other improper mo- 
tires to us — when they perceive the sincere and persevering exer- 
tions of their government to preserve peace ; they will continue to 
adhere to it, even in an unsuccessful war to defend their rights, 
to assert their honor, the dignity and independence of the country 
But my ideas of duty are such, that when my rights are invaded, I 
must advance to their defence, let what may be the consequence ; 
even if death itself were to be my certain fate. 

I mu6t apologize for having trespassed so long upon the patience 
of the Committee I trust that I have fully established these three 
positions : that the quantum of the force proposed by the bill is not 
too great — that its nature is such as the contemplated war calls for j 
and that the object of the war is justified by every consideration of 
justice, of interest, of honor, and love of country. Unless the object 
is attained by peaceful means, I hope that war will be waged before 
the close of the session. 



-i 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 

In the House or Representatives, January 22, 1812. 



[A bill providing for the general repair and increase of the Navy, the purchase 
of timber, ordnance, stores, ttec. &c, in view of the approaching collision with 
Great Britain, having been reported to the House, and the section providing for 
new frigates, leaving a blank for the numbe'., Mr. Cheves of S. C. moved to fill 
the blank with ten. Mr. Rhea of Tenn. mov^d to strike this section out of the 
Bill. The motion to strike out was advocated by Messrs. Rhea, (mover,) Smilib 
of Pa., Bl4ckledge of N. C, and Bovt> of N. J., and opposed by Messrs. Chjeveb, 
Newtox of Va., Clay of Ky., and Mitgheia of N. Y., and was rejected by a rote 
of 52 to 47. Mr. Clat spoke as follows •.] 

As I do not precisely agree in opinion with any gentleman who 
has spoken, I shall take the liberty of detaining the committee a few 
moments, while I offer to their attention some observations. I am 
highly gratified with the temper and ability with which the discussion 
has hitherto been conducted. It is honorable to the House, and, I 
trust, will continue to be manifested on many future occasions. 

On this interesting topic a diversity of opinion has existed almost 
ever since the adoption of the present government. On the one 
hand, there appear to me to have been attempts made to precipitate 
the nation into all the evils of naval extravagance, which have been 
productive of so much mischief in other countries ; and on the other, 
strongly feeling this mischief, there has existed an unreasonable pre- 
judice against providing such a competent naval protection for our 
commercial and maritime rights as is demanded by their importance, 
and as the increased resources of the country amply justify. 

The attention of Congress has been invited to this subject by the 
President, in his Message delivered at the opening of the session. In- 
deed, had it been wholly neglected by the Chief Magistrate, from the 
critical situation of the country, and the nature of the rights proposed 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 23 

to be vindicated, it must have pressed itself upon our attention. But 
the President in his message observes : " Your attention will, of 
course, be drawn to such provisions on the subject of our naval force 
as may be required for the service to which it is best adapted. I 
submit to Congress the seasnnablcness also of an authority to augment 
the stock of such materials as are imperishable in their nature, or may 
not at once be attainable." The President, by this recommendation, 
clearly intimates an opinion that the naval force of this country is ca- 
pable of producing effect ; and the propriety of laying up imperishable 
materials was no doubt suggested for the purpose of making additions 
to the navy, as convenience and exigences might direct. 

It appears a little extraordinary, that so much unreasonable jeal- 
ousy should exist against the naval establishment. If we look back 
to the period of the formation of the constitution, it will be found that 
no such jealousy was then excited. In placing the physical force of 
the nation at the disposal of Congress, the convention manifested 
much greater apprehension of abuse in the power given tc raise ar- 
mies than in that to provide a navy. In reference to the navy, Con- 
gress is put under no restrictions ; but with respect to the arm)- — that 
description of force Which has been so often employed to subvert the 
liberties of mankind — they are subjected to limitations designed to 
prevent the abuse of this dangerous power. But it is not my inten- 
tion to detain the committee by a discussion on the comparative util- 
ity and safety of these two kinds of force. I wish, however, to be 
indulged in saying, that I think gentlemen have wholly failed in main- 
taining the position they assumed, that the fall of maritime powers 
is attributable to their navies. They have told us, indeed, that Car- 
thage, Genoa, Venice, and other nations, had navies, and notwith- 
standing were finally destroyed. But have they shewn by a train of 
argument, that their overthrow was, in any degree, attributable to 
their maritime greatness ? Have they attempted even to show, that 
there exists in the nature of this power a necessary tendency to de- 
stroy the nation using it ? Assertion is substituted for argument ; 
inferences not authorized by historical facts are arbitrarily drawn ; 
things wholly unconnected with each other are associated together — 
a very logical mode of reasoning, it must be admitted ! In the same 
way I could demonstrate how idle and absurd our attachments are to 
freedom itself. I might say, for example, that Greece and Rome had 
forms of free government, and that the)' no longer exist ; and,dodu- 



24 SPEECHES OF HENRY - CLAT. 

cing their fall from their devotion to liberty, the conclusion in favor of 
despotism would very satisfactorily follow ! I demand what there is 
in the nature and construction of maritime power to excite the fears 
that have been indulged ? Do gentlemen really apprehend that a 
body of seamen Avill abandon their proper element, and, placing 
themselves under an aspiring chief, will erect a throne to his ambi- 
tion ? Will they deign to listen to the voice of history, and learn 
how chimerical are their apprehensions ? 

But the source of alarm is in ourselves. Gentlemen fear that if 
we provide a marine it will produce collisions with foreign nations — 
plunge us into war, and ultimately overturn the constitution of the 
country. Sir, if you wish to avoid foreign collision, you had better 
abandon the ocean ; surrender all your comr»'»rce ; give up all your 
prosperity. It is the thing protected, not the instrument of protec- 
tion, that involves you in war. Commerce engenders collision, col- 
lision war, and war, the argument supposes, leads to despotism. 
Would the counsels of that statesman be deemed wise who would 
recommend tbat the nation should be unarmed — that the art of war, 
the martial spirit, and martial exercises, should be prohibited — who 
should declare, in the language of Othello, that the nation must bid 
" farewell to the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, the spirit-stir- 
ring drum, the ear -piercing fife, and all the pride, pomp, and circum- 
stance of glorious war" — and that the great body of the people should 
be taught that the national happiness was to be found in perpetual 
peace alone ? No, sir. And yet every argument in favor of a power 
of protection on land applies, in some degree, to a power of protec- 
tion on the sea. Undoubtedly a commerce void of naval protection 
is more exposed to rapacity than a guarded commerce ; and if we 
wish to invite the continuance of the old, or the. enactment of new 
edicts, let us refrain from all exertion upon that element where we 
must operate, and where, in the end, they must be resisted. 

For my part, I do not allow myself to be alarmed by those appre- 
hensions of maritime power which appear to agitate other gentle- 
men. In the nature of our government I behold abundant security 
against abuse. I would be unwilling to tax the land to support the 
rights of the sea, and am for drawing from the sea itself the re- 
sources with which its violated freedom should at all times be vindi- 
cated. Whilst this principle is adhered to, there will be no dangei 



ON THE ' INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 25 

of runing into tho folly and extravagance which so much alarm gentle- 
men ; and whenever it is abandoned — whenever Congress shall lay 
burdensome taxes to augment the navy beyond what may be authori- 
zed by the increase of wealth, and demanded by the exigences of 
the country, the people will interpose, and, removing their unworthy 
representatives, apply the appropriate corrective. For these reasons 
I can see no just ground of dread in the nature of naval power. It is, 
on the contrary, free from the evils attendant upon standing armies. 
And the genius of our institutions — the great representative princi- 
ple, in the practical enjoyment of which we are so eminently distin- 
guished, affords the best guarantee against the ambition and wasteful 
extravagance of government. What maritime strength is it expe- 
dient to provide for the United States ? In considering this subject, 
three different degrees of naval power present themselves. In the 
first place, such a force as would be capable of contending with that 
which any other nation is able to bring on the ocean — a force that, 
boldly scouring every sea, would challenge to combat the fleets of 
other powers, however great. I admit it is impossible at this time, 
perhaps it never will be desirable, for this country to establish so ex- 
tensive a navy. Indeed, I should consider it as madness in the ex- 
treme in this government to attempt to provide a navy able to cope 
with the fleets of Great Britain, wherever they might be met 

The next species of naval power to which I Avill advert, is that 
which, without adventuring into distant seas, and keeping generally 
in our own harbors, and on our coasts, would be competent to beat off 
any squadron which might be attempted to be permanently stationed 
in our waters. My friends from South Carolina (Messrs. Cheves 
and Lowndes) have satisfactorily shown that, to effect this object, a 
force equivalent only to one-third of that which the maintenance of 
such a squadron must require, would be sufficient — that if, for exam- 
ple, England should determine to station permanently upon our coast 
a squadron of twelve ships of the line, it would require for this ser- 
vice thirty-six ships of the line, one-third in port repairing, one-third 
on the passage, and one-third on the station. But that is a force 
which it has been shown that even England, with her boasted navy, 
could not spare for the American service, whilst she is engaged in the 
present contest. I am desirous of seeing such a force as I have de- 
scribed, that is, twelve ships of the line, and fifteen or twenty frigates, 
provided for the United States ; but I admit that it is unattainable in 



26 SPEECHES OP HENRY CLAT. 

the present situation of the finances of the country. I contend, how- 
ever, that it is such a force as Congress ought to set about providing, 
and I hope in less than ten years to see it actually established. I am 
far from surveying the vast maritime power of Great Britain with the 
desponding eye with which other gentlemen behold it. I cannot al- 
low myself to be discouraged at a prospect of even her thousand 
ships. This country only requires resolution, and a proper exertion 
of its immense resources, to command respect, and to vindicate every 
essential right. When we consider our remoteness from Europe, the 
expense, difficulty, and perils to which any squadron would be exposed 
while stationed off our coasts, there can be no doubt that the force to 
which I have referred would ensure the command of our own seas. 
Such a force would avail itself of our extensive sea-board and nu- 
merous harbors, everywhere affording asylums, to which it could safely 
retire from a superior fleet, or from which it could issue for the pur- 
pose of annoyance. To the opinion of my colleague, (Mr. McKee,^ 
who appears to think that it is vain for us to make any struggle on 
the ocean, I would oppose the sentiments of his distinguished con- 
nexion, the heroic Daviess, who fell in the battle of Tippecanoe. 

[Here Mr. C. read certain parts of a %vork written by Col. Daviess, in which tha 
author attempts to show, that, as the aggressions upon our commerce were not com- 
mitted by fleets, but by single vessels, they could in the same manner be best 
retaliated : that the force of about twenty or thirty frigates would be capable of in- 
flicting great injury on English commerce by picking up stragglers, cutting off con- 
voys^ and seizing upon every moment of- supineness ; and that such a force, with our 
sea-ports and harbors well fortified, and aided by privateers, would be really formi- 
dable, and would annoy the British navy and commerce, just as the French were as- 
sailed in Egypt, the Persian army in Scythia, and the Roman army in Parthia.] 

The third description of force, worthy of consideration, is that 
which would be able to prevent any single vessel, of whatever metal, 
from endangering our whole coasting trade, blocking up our harbors, 
and laying under contribution our cities — a force competent to punish 
the insolence of the commander of any single ship, and to preserve in 
our own jurisdiction the inviolability of our peace and our laws. A 
force of this kind is entirely within the compass of our means, at this 
time. Is there a reflecting man in the nation who would not charge 
Congress with a culpable neglect of its duty, if, for the want of such 
a force, a single ship were to bombard one of our cities ! Would not 
every honorable member of the Committee inflict on himself the bit- 
terest reproaches, if, by failing to make an inconsiderable addition to 
our little gallant navy, a single British vessel should place New York 



ON THE HEW NAVY BILL. 



27 



under contribution ! Yes, sir, when the city is in flames, its wretched 
inhabitants begin to repent of their neglect, in not providing engines 
anJ water buckets. If we are not able to meet the wolves of the 
forest, shall we put up with the barking impudence of every petty 
cur that trips across our way ? Because we cannot guard against 
every possible danger, shall we provide against none r 1 hope not. 
I hardly expected that the instructing but humiliating lesson was so 
soon to be forgotten which was taught us in the murder of Pierce — 
the attack en the Chesapeake — and the insult offered in the very 
harbor of Charleston, which the brave old fellow who commanded 
the fort in vain endeavored to chastise. It is a rule with me, when 
acting either in a public or private character, to attempt nothing 
more than what there exists a prospect of accomplishing. I am 
therefore not in favor of entering into any mad projects on this sub- 
ject, but for deliberately and resolutely pursuing what I believe to be 
within the power of the government. Gentlemen refer to the period 
of 1798, and we are reminded of the principles maintained by the 
opposition at that time. I have no doubt of the correctness of that 
opposition. The naval schemes of that day were premature, not 
warranted by the resources of the country, and were contemplated 
for an unnecessary war into winch the nation was about to be plunged 
I have always admired and approved the zeal and ability with which 
that opposition was conducted by the distinguished gentleman now at 
the head of the treasury. But the state of things is totally altered. 
What was folly in 1798 may be wisdom now. At that time we had. 
a revenue only of about six millions. Our revenue now, upon a 
supposition that commerce is restored, is about sixteen millions 
The population of the country too is greatly increased, nearly doubled, 
and the wealth of the nation is perhaps tripled. Whilst our ability 
to construct a navy is thus enhanced, the necessary maritime protec 
tion is proportionably augmented. Independent of the extension of 
our commerce, since the year 1798 we have had an addition of more 
than five hundred miles to our coast, from the bay of Perdido to the 
mouth of the Sabine — a weak and defenceless accession, requiring, 
more than any other part of our maritime frontier, the protecting arm 
of government. 

The groundless imputation, that those who arc friendly to a navy 
are espousing a principle inimical to freedom, shall not terrify me. I 
am not ashamed when in such company as the illustrious author of the 



** %% 



28 



SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 



Notes on Virginia, whose opinion on the subject of a navy, container] 
in that work, contributed to the formation of my own. But the prin- 
ciple of a navy is no longer open to controversy. It was decided 
when Mr. Jefferson came into power. With all the prejudices against 
a navy which are alleged by some to have been then brought into 
the administration — with many honest prejudices, I admit — the rash 
attempt was not made to destroy the establishment. It was reduced 
to only what was supposed to be within the financial capacity of the 
country. If, ten years ago, when all those prejudices were to he 
combated, even in time of peace, it was deemed proper, by the then 
administration, to retain in service ten frigates, I put it to the candor 
of gentlemen to say, if now, when we are on the eve of a war, and 
taking into view the actual growth of the country, and the acquisi- 
tion of our coast on the Gulf of Mexico, we ought not to add to the 
establishment. 

1 have hitherto alluded more particularly to the exposed situation 
of certain parts of the Atlantic frontier. Whilst I feel the deepest 
solicitude for the safety of New York, and other cities on the coast, 
I would be pardoned by the Committee for referring to the iaterests 
of that section of the Union from which I come. If there be a point 
more than any other in the United States demanding the aid of naval 
protection, that point is the mouth of the Mississippi. What is the 
population of the Western country, dependant on this single outlet for 
its surplus productions ? Kentucky, according to the last enumera- 
tion, has 405,511, Tennessee 261,727, and Ohio 230,760. And 
when the population of the western parts of Virginia and Pennsylva- 
nia, and the territories which are drained by the Mississippi or its 
waters, is added, it will form an aggregate equal to about one-fifth of 
the whole population of the United States, resting all their commer- 
cial hopes upon this solitary vent ! The bulky articles of which 
their surplus productions consist, can be transported no other way. 
They will not bear the expense of a carriage up the Ohio and Ten- 
nessee, and across the mountains ; and the circuitous voyage of the 
lakes is out of the question. Whilst most other States have the 
option of numerous outlets, so that if one be closed resort can be had 
to others, this vast population has no alternative. Close the mouth 
of the Mississippi and their export trade is annihilated. I call the 
attention of my Western friends, especially my worthy Kentucky 
friends (from whom I feel myself with regret constrained to differ ou 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 29 

ftus occasion) to the state of the public feeling in that quarter, whilst 
the navigation of the Mississippi was withheld by Spain ; and to the 
still more recent period when the right of depot was violated. The 
whole country was in commotion, and, at the nod of government, 
would have fallen on Baton K.ouge and New Orleans, and punished 
the treachery of a perfidious government. Abandon all idea of pro- 
tecting, by maritime force, the mouth of the Mississippi, and we 
shall have the recurrence of many similar scenes. We shall hold the 
inestimable right of the navigation of that river by the most preca- 
rious tenure. The whole commerce of the Mississippi — a commerce 
that is destined to be the richest that was ever borne by a single 
stream — is placed at the mercy of a single ship lying off the Balize ' 
Again : the convulsions of the new world, still more perhaps than 
those of Europe, challenge our attention. Whether the ancient 
dynasty of Spain is still to be upheld or subverted, is extremely un- 
certain, if the bonds connecting the parent country with her colonies 
are not for ever broken. What is to become of Cuba ? Will it as- 
sert independence, or remain the province of some European power? 
In either case the whole trade of the western country, which must 
pass almost within gun-shot of the Mcro Castle, is exposed to dan- 
ger. It is not, however, Cuba that I fear. I wish her independent. 
But suppose England gets possession of that valuable island. With 
Cuba on the south and Halifax on the north — and the consequent 
means of favoring or annoying commerce of particular sections of the 
country — I ask if the most sanguine amongst us would not tremble 
for the integrity of the Union ? If, along with Cuba, Great Britain 
should acquire East Florida, she will have the absolute command of 
the Gulf of Mexico. Can gentlemen, particularly gentlemen from 
the Western country, contemplate such possible, nay, probable events, 
without desiring to see at least the commencement of such a naval 
establishment as would effectually protect the Mississippi ? I en- 
treat them to turn their attention to the defenceless situation of the 
Orleans Territory, and to the nature of its population. It is known 
that whilst under the Spanish government they experienced the 
benefit of naval security. Satisfy th<*n that under the government 
of the United States they will enjoj less protection, and you disclose 
the most fatal secret. 

The general government receives annually for the public lands, 
about $600,000. One of the sources whence the Western people 

29 



30 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

raise this sum, is the exportation of the surplus productions of that 
country. Shut up the Mississippi, and this source is in a great meas- 
ure dried up. But suppose this government to look upon the occlu- 
sion of the Mississippi without making an effort on that element, 
where alone it could be made successfully, to remove the blockading 
force, and at the same time to be vigorously pressing payment for the 
public lands ; I shudder at the consequences. Deep-rooted as I know 
the affections of the western people to be to the Union, (and I will 
not admit their patriotism to be surpassed by any other quarter of the 
country,) if such a state of things were to last any considerable time, 
I should seriously apprehend a withdrawal of their confidence. Nor, 
sir, could we derive any apology for the failure to afford this protec- 
tion from the want of the materials for naval architecture. On the 
contrary, all the articles entering into the construction of a navy — 
iron, hemp, timber, pitch, abound in the greatest abundance on the 
waters of the Mississippi. Kentucky alone, I have no doubt, raised 
nemp enough the last year for the whole consumption of the United 
States. 

If, as I conceive, gentlemen have been unsuccessful in showing that 
the downfall of maritime nations is ascribable to their navies, they 
have been more fortunate in showing, by the instances to which they 
have referred, that without a marine, no foreign commerce could exist 
to any extent. It is the appropriate, the natural (if the term may be 
alnwed) connexion of foreign commerce. The shepherd and his 
faithful dog are not more necessary to guard the flock that browse 
and ganibol on the neighboring mountain. I consider the prosperity 
of foreign commerce indissolubly allied to marine power. Neglect to 
provide the one and you must abandon the other. Suppose the ex- 
pected war W'th England is commenced, you enter and subjugate 
Canada, and she still refuses to do you justice — what other possible 
mode will remain 10 operate on the enemy but upon that element 
where alone you can Jien come in contact with him ? And if you 
do not prepare to protect there your own commerce, and to assail his, 
will he not sweep from the acean every vessel bearing your flag, and 
destroy even the coasting trade ? But from the arguments of gentle- 
men, it would seem to be questioned if foreign commerce is worth 
the kind of protection insisted upon. What is this foreign commerce, 
that has suddenly become so inconsiderable ? It has, with very trifling 
aid from other sources, defrayed the expenses of government ever 



ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAVY. 31 

since the adoption of the present constitution ; maintained an expen- 
sive and successful war with the Indians ; a war with the Barbary 
powers ; a quasi war with France ; sustained the charges of suppress- 
ing two insurrections, and extinguishing upwards of forty-six millions 
of the public debt. In revenue it has, since the year 1789, yielded 
one hundred and ninety-one millions of dollars. During the first four 
years after the commencement of the present government, the reve- 
nue averaged only about two millions annually ; during a subsequent 
period of four years, it rose to an average of fifteen millions annually, 
or became equivalent to a capital of two hundred and fifty millions of 
dollars, at an interest of six per centum per annum. And if our 
commerce is re-established, it will, in the course of time, nett a sum 
for which we are scarcely furnished with figures in arithmetic. Ta- 
king the average of the last nine years, (comprehending, of course, the 
season of the embargo,) our exports average upwards of thirty-seven 
millions of dollars, which is equivalent to a capital of more than six 
hundred millions of dollars, at six per centum interest, all of which 
must be lost in the event of a destruction of foreign commerce. In 
the abandonment of that commerce is also involved the sacrifice of 
our brave tars, who have engaged in the pursuit from which they de- 
rive subsistence and support, under the confidence that government 
would afford them that just protection which is due to aZl. They 
will be driven into foreign employment, for it is vain to expect that 
they will renounce their habits of life. 

The spirit of commercial enterprise, so strongly depicted by the 
gentleman from New York, (Mr. Mitchell,) is diffused throughout the 
country. It is a passion as unconquerable as any with which nature 
has endowed us. You may attempt indeed to regulate, but you can- 
not destroy it. It exhibits itself as well on the waters of the 
western country as on the waters and shores of the Atlantic. 7 have 
heard of a vessel built at Pittsburgh having crossed the Atlantic and 
entering a European port (I believe that of Leghorn.) Tte master 
of the vessel laid his papers before the proper custom officer, which, 
of course, stated the place of her departure. The officer boldly de- 
nied the existence of any such American port as Pittsburgh, and 
threatened a seizure of the vessel as being furnisAed with forged 
papers. The affrighted master procured a map of the United States, 
and, pointing out the Gulf of Mexico, took, the officer to the mouth 
of the Mississippi — traced the course of the Mississippi more than a 



32 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

thousand miles to the mouth of the Ohio ; and conducting him still ! 
thousand miles higher, to the junction of the Alleghany and Monon 
gahela — " There," he exclaimed, " stands Pittsburgh, the port fron 
which I sailed !" The custom-house officer, prior to the productioi 
of this evidence, would have as soon believed that the vessel ha< 
performed a voyage from the moon. 

In delivering the sentiments which I have expressed, I consid 
myself as conforming to a sacred constitutional duty. When tl 
power to provide a navy was confided to Congress, it must have bee 
the intention of the convention to submit only to the discretion of th? 
body the period when that power should be exercised. That perio 
has, in my opinion, arrived, at least for making a respectable beginning 
And whilst I thus discharge what I conceive to be my duty, I deriv 
great pleasure from the reflection that I am supporting a measure c& 
culated to impart additional strength to our happy Union. Diversifiei 
as are the interests of its various parts, how admirably do they har 
monize and blend together ! We have only to make a proper use a 
the bounties spread before us, to render us prosperous and powerfu. 
Such a navy as I have contended for, will form a new bond of coi 
nexion between the States, concentrating their hopes, their interest 
and their affections. 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 

In the House of Representatives, January 8, 1S13. 



[War was declared against Great Britain on the 18th of June, 1812, and military 
operations commenced on our Northern frontier, which resulted at first in a series 
of unexpected and disgraceful disasters to our arms. In the midst of these reverses 
the election of President came on, and the supporters of the War narrowly escaped 
being defeated by the choice of De Witt Clinton, the Peace candidate, over the 
incumbent, James Madison. Congress having rc-assembled, the majority imme- 
diately applied itself to the adoption of measures calculated to revive the drooping 
spirits and re-invigorate the arms of the country. First among these was a Bill to 
Increase the Army, by raising twenty additional regiments. The Bill being under 
discussion in Committee of the Whole, Mr. Clat engaged in the debate, address- 
ing the House on the general topics involved, and the merits of the War, as follows :] 

I was gratified yesterday by the recommitment of this bill to a 
Committee of the Whole House, from two considerations ; one, 
since it afforded me a slight relaxation from a most fatiguing situation ; 
and the other, because it furnished me with an opportunity of pre- 
senting to the Committee my sentiments upon the important topics 
which have been mingled in the debate. I regret, however, that the 
necessity under which the Chairman had been placed of putting the 
question, precluded the opportunity I have w r ished to enjoy, of ren- 
dering more acceptable to the Committee any thing I might have to 
offer on the interesting points on which it is my duty to touch. Un- 
prepared, however, as I am to speak on this day, of which I am the 
more sensible, from the ill state of my health, I will solicit the atten- 
tion of the Committee for a few moments. 

I was a little astonished, I confess, when I found this bill per- 
mitted to pass silently through the Committee of the Whole, and 
not selected, until the moment when the question was about to 
be put for its third reading, as the subject on which gentlemen in 
the opposition chose to lay before the House their views of the 



34 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

interesting attitude in which the nation stands. It did appear to 
me, that the Loan bill, which will soon come before us, would have 
afforded a much more proper occasion, it being more essential, as pro 
viding the ways and means for the prosecution of the war. But the 
gentlemen had the right of selection, and having exercised it, no mat- 
ter how improperly, I am gratified, whatever I may think of the 
character of some part of the debate, at the latitude in which, for once, 
they have been indulged. I claim only, in return, of gentlemen on the 
other side of the House, and of the Committee, a like indulgence in 
expressing my sentiments, with the same unrestrained freedom. 
Perhaps, in the course of the remarks which I may feel myself called 
upon to make, gentlemen may apprehend that they assume too harsh 
an aspect ; but I have only now to say, that I shall speak of parties, 
measures, and things, as they strike my moral sense, protesting 
against the imputation of any intention, on my part, to wound the 
feelings of any gentleman. 

Considering the situation in which this country is now placed — a 
state of actual war with one of the most powerful nations on the 
earth — it may not be useless to take a view of the past, and of the 
various parties which have at different times appeared in this country, 
and to attend to the manner by which we have been driven from a 
peaceful posture, to our present warlike attitude. Sucr an inquiry 
may assist in guiding us to that result, an honorable peace, which 
must be the sincere desire of every friend to America. The course 
of that opposition, by which the administration of the government 
has been unremittingly impeded for the last twelve years, is singu- 
lar, and, I believe, unexampled in the history of any country. It 
has been alike the duty and the interest of the administration to 
preserve peace. It was their duty, because it is necessary to the 
growth of an infant people, to their genius and to their habits. 
It was their interest, because a change of the condition of the nation 
brings along with it a danger of the loss of the affections of 
the people. The administration has not been forgetful of these 
solemn obligations. No art has been left unessayed ; no experi- 
ment, promising a favorable result, left untried, to maintain the 
peaceful relations of the country. When, some six or seven years 
ago, the affairs of the nation assumed a threating aspect, a partial 
non-importation was adopted. As they grew more alarming, an em- 
bargo was imposed. It would have accomplished its purpose, but it 



ON THE NEW ARMT MIX. 35 

was sacrificed upon the altar of conciliation. Vain and fruitless at- 
tempt to propitiate ! Then came along non-intercouse ; and a gen- 
eral non-importation followed in the train. In the mean time, any 
indications of a return to the public law and the path of justice, on 
the part of either belligerent, are seized upon with avidity by the 
administration — the arrangement with Mr. Erskine is concluded. It 
is first applauded, and then censured by the opposition. No matter 
with what unfeigned sincerity, with what real effort administration 
cultivates peace, the opposition insist that it alone is culpable for 
every breach that is made between the two countries. Because the 
President thought proper, in accepting the proffered reparation for 
the attack on a national vessel, to intimate that it would have better 
comported with the justice of the king, (and who does not think so ?) 
to punish the offending officer, the opposition, entering into the royal 
feelings, sees, in that imaginary insult, abundant cause for rejecting 
Mr. Erskine 's arrangement. On another occasion, you cannot have 
forgotten the hypocritical ingenuity which they displayed, to divest 
Mr. Jackson's correspondence of a premeditated insult to this country. 
If gentlemen would only reserve for their own government, half the 
sensibility which is indulged for that of Great Britain, they would 
find much less to condem. Restriction after restriction has been tried 
— negotiation has been resorted to, until further negotiation would 
have been disgraceful. Whilst these peaceful experiments are under- 
going a trial, what is the conduct of the opposition ? They are the 
champions of Avar ; the proud, the spirited, the sole repository of the 
nation's honor ; the men of exclusive vigor and energy. The admin 
istration, on the contrary, is weak, feeble, and pusillanimous — " in 
capable of being kicked into a war." The maxim, " not a cent for 
tribute, millions for defence," is loudly proclaimed. Is the adminis- 
tration for negotiation ? The opposition is tired, sick, disgusted with 
negotiation. They want to draw the sword and avenge the nation's 
wrongs. When, however, foreign nations, perhaps, emboldened by 
the very opposition here made, refuse to listen to the amicable ap- 
peals, which have been repeated and reiterated by the administration, 
to their justice and to their interests — when, in fact, war with one of 
them has become identified with our independence and our sovereignty, 
and to abstain from it was no longer possible, behold the opposition 
veering round and becoming the friends of peace and commerce. 
They tell you of the calamities of war — its tragical events — the 
squandering away of your resources — the waste of the public treasure, 



36 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

and the spilling of innocent blood. " Gorgons, hydras, and chimeras 
dire." They tell you that honor is an illusion ! Now we see them 
exhibiting the terrific forms of the roaring king of the forest. Now 
the meekness and humility of the lamb ! They are for war and no 
restrictions, when the administration is for peace. They are for peace 
and restrictions, when the administration is for war. You find them 
sir, tacking with every gale, displaying the colors of every party, and 
of all nations, steady only in one unalterable purpose, to steer, if pos- 
sible, into the haven of power. 

During all this time, the parasites of opposition do not fail by cun- 
ning sarcasm or sly innuendo to throw out the idea of French influence, 
which is known to be false, which ought to be met in one manner 
only, and that is by the lie direct. The administration of this coun- 
try devoted to foreign influence ! The administration of this country 
subservient to France ! Great God ! what a charge ! how is it so 
influenced ? By what ligament, on what basis, on what possible foun- 
dation does it rest ? Is it similarity of language ? No ! we speak 
different tongues — we speak the English language. On the resem- 
blance of our laws ? No ! the sources of our jurisprudence spring 
from another and a different country. On commercial intercourse ? 
No ! we have comparatively none with France. Is it from the cor- 
respondence in the genius of the two governments ? No ! here alone 
is the liberty of man secure from the inexorable despotism which 
everywhere else tramples it under foot. Where then is the ground of 
such an influence ? But, sir, I am insulting you by arguing on such a 
subject. Yet, preposterous and ridiculous as the insinuation is, it is 
propagated w*ith so much industry, that there are persons found fool- 
ish and credulous enough to believe it. You will, no doubt, think it 
incredible (but I have nevertheless been told it as a fact) that an 
honorable member of this house, now in my eye, recently lost his 
election by the circulation of a silly story in his district, that he was 
the first cousin of the Emperor Napoleon. The proof of the charge 
rested on the statement of facts, which was undoubtedly true. The 
gentleman in question, it was alleged, had married a connexion of the 
lady of the President of the United States, who was the intimate 
friend of Thomas Jefferson, late President of the United States, who 
some years ago was in the habit of wearing red French breeches. 
Now, taking these premises as established, you, Mr. Chairman, are 
too good a logician not to see that the conclusion necessarily follows ' 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 37 

Throughout the period I have been speaking of, the opposition has 
been distinguished, amidst all its veerings and changes, by another 
inflexible feature — the application to Bonaparte of every vile and 
opprobrious epithet, which our language, copious as it is in terms of 
vituperation, affords. He has been compared to every hideous monster 
and beast, from that mentioned in the Revelation, down to the most 
insignificant quadruped. He has been called the scourge of man- 
kind, the destroyer of Europe, the great robber, the infidel, the 
modern Attila, and heaven knows by what other names. Really, 
gentlemen remind me of an obscure lady, in a city not very far off, 
who also took it into her head, in conversation with an accomplished 
French gentleman, to talk of the affairs of Europe. She too spoke of 
the destruction of the balance of power, stormed and raged about the 
insatiable ambition of the emperor ; called him the curse of mankind, 
the destroyer of Europe. The Frenchman listened to her with per- 
fect patience, and, when she had ceased, said to her, with ineffable 
politeness, " Madam, it would give my master, the emperor, infinite 
pain, if he knew how hardly you thought of him." Sir, gentlemen 
appear to me to forget that they stand on American soil ; that they 
are not in the British House of Commons, but in the chamber of the 
House of Representatives of the United States ; that we have nothing; 
to do with the affairs of Europe, the partition of territory and sover- 
eignty there, except so far as these things affect the interests of our 
own country. Gentlemen transform themselves into ^he Burkes, 
Chathams, and Pitts of another country, and forgetting, from honest 
zeal, the interests of America, engage with European sensibility in 
the discussion of European interests. If gentlemen ask me whether 
I do not view with regret and horror the concentration of such vast 
power in the hands of Bonaparte, I reply that I do. I regret to see 
the emperor of China holding such immense sway over the fortunes 
of millions of our species. I regret to see Great Britain possessing so 
uncontrolled a command over all the waters of our globe. If I had 
the ability to distribute among the nations of Europe their several 
portions of power and sovereignty, I would say that Holland should 
be resuscitated, and given the weight she enjoyed in the days of her 
De Witts. I would confine France within her natural boundaries, 
the Alps, Pyrenees, and the Rhine, and make her a secondary naval 
power only. I would abridge the British maritime power, raise 
Prussia and Austria to their original condition, and preserve the in- 
tegrity of the empire of Russia. But these are speculations. I look 



38 SPEECHES OF HENRT CCAY". 

at the political transactions of Europe, with the single exception of 
their possible bearing upon us, as I do at the history of other coun- 
tries, or other times. I do not survey them with half the interest 
that I do the movements in South America. Our political relations 
with them are much less important than they are supposed to be. I 
have no fears of French or English subjugation. If we are united, we 
are too powerful for the mightiest nation in Europe, or all Europe com- 
bined. If we are separated and torn asunder, we shall become an 
easy prey to the weakest of them. In the latter dreadful contingency, 
our country will not be worth preserving. 

.Next to the notice which the opposition has found itself called 
upon to bestow upon the French emperor, a distinguished citizen of 
Virginia, formerly President of the United States, has never for a 
moment failed to receive their kindest and most respectful attention. 
An honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Quincy,) of whom 
I am sorry to say it becomes necessary for me, in the course of my 
remarks, to take some notice, has alluded to him in a remarkable 
manner. Neither his retirement from public office, his eminent ser- 
vices, nor his advanced age, can exempt this patriot from the coarse 
assaults of party malevolence. No, sir, in 1801 he snatched from the 
rude hand of usurpation the violated constitution of his country, and 
that is his crime. He preserved that instrument, in form, and sub- 
stance, and spirit, a precious inheritance for generations to come, and 
for this he can never be forgiven. How vain and impotent is party 
rage, directed against such a man ! He is not more elevated by his 
lofty residence, upon the summit of his own favorite mountain,' than 
he is lifted, by the serenity of his mind, and the consciousness of a 
well spent life, above the malignant passions and bitter feelings of the 
day. No ! his own beloved Monticello is not more moved by the 
storms that beat against its sides, than is this illustrious man, by the 
howlings of the whole British pack set loose from the Essex kennel ! 
When the gentleman to whom I have been compelled to allude shall 
have mingled his dust with that of his abused ancestors — when he 
shall have been consigned to oblivion, or, if he lives at all, shall live 
only in the treasonable annals of a certain junto, the name of Jeffer- 
son will be hailed with gratitude, his memory honored and cherished 
as the second founder of the liberties of the people, and the period of 
his administration will be looked back to as one of the the happiest 
and brightest epochs of American history ; an oasis in the midst of 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 39 

a sandy desert. But I beg the gentleman's pardon ; he has indeed 
secured to himself a more imperishable fame than I had supposed. I 
think it was about four years ago that he submitted to the House of 
Representatives an initiative proposition for an impeachment of Mr. 
Jefferson. The House condescended to consider it. The gentleman 
debated it with his usual temper, moderation, and urbanity. The 
House decided upon it in the most solemn manner, and, although the 
gentleman had somehow obtained a second, the final vote stood one 
for, and one hundred and seventeen against the proposition ! The 
same historic page that transmitted to posterity the virtue and the 
glory of Henry the Great of France, for their admiration and exam- 
ple, has preserved the infamous name of the fanatic assassin of that 
excellent monarch. The same sacred pen that portrayed the suffer- 
ings and crucifixion of the Saviour of mankind, has recorded, for 
universal execration, the name of him who was guilty, not of betray- 
ing his country, but (a kindred crime) of betraying his God. 

Jn one respect there is a remarkable difference between the ad- 
ministration and the opposition — it is in a sacred regard for personal 
liberty. When out of power, my political friends condemned the sur- 
render of Jonathan Robbins ; they opposed the violation of tne freedom 
of the press, in the sedition law ; they opposed the more insidious 
attack upon the freedom of the person, under the imposing garb of an 
alien law. The party now in opposition, then in power, advocated 
the sacrifice of the unhappy Robbins, and passed those two laws. 
True to our principles, we are now struggling for the liberty of our 
seamen against foreign oppression. True to theirs, they oppose a war 
undertaken for this object. They have indeed lately affected a ten- 
der solicitude for the liberties of the people, and talk of the danger 
of standing armies, and the burden of taxes. But it must be evident 
to you, Mr. Chairman, that they speak in a foreign idiom. Their 
brogue evinces that it is not their vernacular tongue. What ! the 
opposition who, in 1798 and 1799, could raise a useless army to 
fight an enemy three thousand miles distant from us, alarmed at the 
existence of one raised for a known and specific object — the attack 
of the adjoining provinces of the enemy. What ! the gentleman from 
Massachusetts, who assisted by his vote to raise the army of 25,000 
alarmed at the danger of our liberties from this very army ! 

But, sir, 1 must speak of another subject, which I never think of 



40 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

but with feelings of the deepest awe. The gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts, in imitation of some of his predecessors of 1799, has enter- 
tained us with a picture of cabinet plots, presidential plots, and all 
sorts of plots, which have been engendered by the diseased state of 
the gentleman's imagination. I wish, sir, that another plot of a much 
more serious and alarming character — a plot that aims at the dis- 
memberment of our Union, had only the same imaginary existence. 
But no man, who has paid any attention to the tone of certain prints, 
and to transactions in a particular quarter of the Union, for several 
years past, can doubt the existence of such a plot. It is far, very 
far from my intention to charge the opposition with such a design. 
No, I believe them generally incapable of it. But I cannot say as 
much for some, who have been unworthily associated with them in 
the quarter of the Union to which I have referred. The gentleman 
cannot have forgotten his own sentiment, uttered even on the floor of 
this House, " Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must ;" nearly at 
the very time Henry's mission to Boston was undertaken. The fla- 
gitiousness of that embassy has been attempted to be concealed, by 
directing the public attention to the price which the gentleman says 
was given for the disclosure. As if any price could change the atro 
ciousness of the attempt on the part of Great Britain, or could exten- 
uate, in the slightest degree, the offence of those citizens, who enter- 
tained and deliberated upon a proposition so infamous and unnatural ! 
There was a most remarkable coincidence between some of the things 
which that man states, and certain events in the quarter alluded to. 
In the contingency of a war with Great Britain, it will be recollected 
that the neutrality and eventual separation of that section of the 
Union was to be brought about. How, sir, has it happened, since 
the declaration of war, that British officers in Canada have asserted 
to American officers, that this very neutrality would take place ? 
That they have so asserted, can be established beyond controversy. 
The project is not brought forward openly, with a direct avowal of 
the intention. No, the stock of good sense and patriotism in that 
portion of the country is too great to be undisguisedly encountered. 
It is assailed from the masked batteries of friendship, of peace and 
commerce on the one side, and by the groundless imputation of op- 
posite propensities on the other. The affections of the people there 
are gradually to be undermined. The project is suggested or with- 
drawn; the diabolical dramatis persona, in this criminal tragedy, 
make their appearance or exit, as the audience, to whom they ad- 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 41 

dress themselves, applaud or condemn. I was astonished, sir, in 
reading lately a letter, or pretended letter, published in a prominent 
print in that quarter, and written, not in the fervor of party zeal, but 
coolly and dispassionately, to find that the writer affected to reason 
about a separation, and attempted to demonstrate its advantages to 
me different portions of the Union — deploring the existence now of 
what he terms prejudices against it, but hoping for the arrival of the 
period when they shall be eradicated. But, sir, I will quit this un- 
pleasant subject ; I will turn from one, whom no sense of decency or 
propriety could restrain from soiling the carpet on which he treads, 
to gentlemen who have not forgotten what is due to themselves, to 
the place in which we are assembled, or to those by whom they are 
opposed. The gentlemen from North Carolina, (Mr. Pearson,) from 
Connecticut, (Mr. Pitkin,) and from New York, (Mr. Bleecker,) 
have, with their usual decorum, contended that the war would not 
have been declared, had it not been for the duplicity of France, in 
withholding an authentic instrument, repealing the decrees of Berlin 
and Milan ; that upon the exhibition of such an instrument, the revo- 
cation of the orders in council took place ; that this main cause of the 
war, but for which it would not have been declared, being removed, 
the administration ought to seek for the restoration of peace ; and that 
upon its sincerely doing so, terms compatible with the honor and in- 
terest of this country might be obtained. It is my purpose to exam- 
ine, first, into the circumstances under which the war was declared ; 
secondly, into the causes of continuing it ; and, lastly, into the means 
which have been taken, or ought to be taken, to procure peace : but, 
sir, I am really so exhausted, that, little as 1 am in the habit of ask- 
ing of the house an indulgence of this kind, I feel I must iiespass on 
their goodness. 

[Here Mr. Clav sat down. Mr. Newton then moved that the Committee rise, 
report progress, and ask leave to sit again, which was done. On th« next day he 
proceeded.] „ 

I am sensible, Mr. Chairman, that some part of trie debate, to 
which this bill has given rise, has been attended by circumstances 
much to be regretted, not usual in this House, and of which it is to 
be hoped, there will be no repetition. The gentleman from Boston 
has so absolved himself from every rule of decorum and propriety, 
has so outraged all decency, that I have found it impossible to sup- 
press the feelings excited on the occasion. His colleague, whom I 



42 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

have the honor to follow (Mr. Wheaton,) whatever else he may not 
have proved, in his very learned, ingenious, and original exposition 
of the powers of this government — an exposition in which he had 
sought where nobody before him has, and nobody after him will 
look, for a grant of our powers, I mean the preamble to the Con- 
stitution, — has clearly shown, to the satisfaction of all who heard 
him, that the power of defensive war is conferred. I claim the 
benefit of a similar principle in behalf of my political friends 
against the gentleman from Boston. I demand only the exercise 
of the right of repulsion. No one is more anxious than I am to 
preserve the dignity and freedom of debate — no member is more 
responsible for its abuse, and if, on this occasion, its just limits 
have been violated, let him who has been the unprovoked aggressor 
appropriate to himself, exclusively, the consequences. 

I omitted, yesterday, sir, when speaking of a delicate and paiaful 
subject, to notice a powerful engine which the conspirators against 
the integrity of the Union employ to effect their nefarious purposes 
• — I mean southern influence. The true friend to his country know 
ing that our Constitution was the work of compromise, in which in- 
terests apparently conflicting were attempted to be reconciled, 
aims to extinguish or allay prejudices. But this patriotic exertion 
does not suit the views of those who are urged on by diabolical 
ambition. They find it convenient to imagine the existence of 
certain improper influences, and to propagate with their utmost 
industry a belief of them. Hence the idea of southern preponder- 
ance, — Virginia influence, — the yoking of the respectable yeoman- 
ry of the north, with negro slaves, to the car of southern nabobs 
If Virginia really cherished a reprehensible ambition, an aim to 
monopolise the Chief Magistracy of the country, how was such a 
purpose to be accomplished ] Virginia, alone, cannot elect a 
President, whose elevation depends upon a plurality of electoral 
votes, and a consequent concurrence of many States. Would 
Vermont, disinterested Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, independent 
Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, all consent, to 
become the tools of inordinate ambition 1 But the present 
incumbent was designated to the office before his predecessor had 
retired. How 1 By public sentiment — public sentiment which 
grew out of his known virtues, his illustrious services, and his dis- 
tinguished abilities. Would the gentleman crush this public senti- 



ON THE NEW ARMY EILL. 43 

ment,— is he prepared to admit that he would arrest the process of 
opinion ? 

The war was declared because Great Britain arrogated to herself 
the pretension of regulating our foreign trade, under the delusive 
name of retaliatory orders in council, — a pretension by which she 
undertook to proclaim to American enterprise, " Thus far shalt thou 
go, and no farther" — orders which she refuses to revoke after the 
alleged cause of their enactment had ceased ; because she persisted in 
the practice of impressing American seamen ; because she instigated 
the Indians to commit hostilities against us ; and because she refused 
indemnity for her past injuries upon our commerce. I throw out 
of the question other wrongs. The war, in fact, was announced, on 
our part, to meet the war which she was waging on her part. So 
undeniable were the causes of the war,— so powerfully did they ad- 
dress themselves to the feelings of the whole American people, that 
when the bill was pending before this House, gentlemen in the oppo- 
sition, although provoked to debate, would .not or could not utter one 
syllable against it. It is true, they wrapped themselves up in sullen 
silence, pretending they did not choose to debate such a question in 
secret session. Whilst speaking of the proceedings on that occasion, 
I beg to be permitted to advert to another fact which transpired, — an 
important fact, material for the nation to know, and which I have 
often regretted had not been spread upon our journals. My honora- 
Dle colleague (Mr. M'Kee) moved, in Committee of the Whole, to 
comprehend France in the war ; and when the question was taken 
upon the proposition, there appeared but ten votes in support of it, of 
whom seven belonged to this side of the House, and three only to the 
other ! It is said that we were inveigled into the war by the perfidy 
of France ; and that had she furnished the document in time, which 
was first published in England, in May last, it would have been pre- 
vented. I will concede to gentlemen every thing they ask about the 
injustice of France towards this country. I wish to God that our 
ability was equal to our disposition, to make her feel the sense that 
we entertain of that injustice. The manner of the publication of the 
paper in question was undoubtedly extremely exceptionable. But I 
maintain that had it made its appearance earlier, it would not have 
had the effect supposed ; and the proof lies in the unequivocal decla- 
rations of the British government. I will trouble you, sir, with going 
no further back than to the letters of the British minister, addressed 



44 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

to the Secretary of State, just before the expiration of his diplomatic 
functions. It will be recollected b} r the committee that he exhibited 
to this government a despatch from Lord Castlereagh, in which the 
principle was distinctly avowed, tbat to produce the effect of a repeal 
of the orders in council, the French decrees must be absolutely and 
entirely revoked as to all the world, and not as to America alone. A 
copy of that despatch was demanded of him, and he very awkwardly 
evaded it. But on the tenth of June, after the bill declaring war had 
actually passed this House, and was pending before the Senate, (and 
which, I have no doubt, was known to him,) in a letter to Mr. Mon- 
roe, he says : 

" I have no hesitation, sir, in saying that Great Britain, as the case has hitherto 
stood, never did, nor ever covld engage, without the greatest injustice to herself and 
her allies, as well as to other neutral nations, to repeal her orders as affecting America 
alone, leaving them in force against other states, upon condition that France would 
except, singly and specially, America from the operation of her decrees." 

On the fourteenth of the same month, the bill still pending before 
the Senate, he repeats : 

" I will now say, that I feel entirely authorized to assure you, that if you can at 
any time produce a full and imconditional repeal of the French decrees, as you have 
a right to demand it in your character of a neutral nation, and that it be disengaged 
from any question concerning our maritime rights, we shall be ready to meet you 
with a revocation of the orders in council. Previously to your producing such an in- 
strument, which I am sorry to see you regard as unnecessary, you cannot expect of 
us to give up our orders in council." 

Thus, sir, you see that the British government would not be content 
with a repeal of the French decrees as to us only. But the French paper 
in question was such a repeal. It could not therefore satisfy the Brtish 
government. It could not therefore have induced that government, 
had it been earlier promulgated, to repeal the orders in council. It 
could not therefore have averted the war. The withholding of it 
did not occasion the war, and the. promulgation of it would not have 
prevented the war. Butgentlemen have contended that, in point of fact, 
it did produce a repeal of the orders in council. This I deny. After 
it made its appearance in England, it was declared by one of the 
British ministry, in Parliament, not to be satisfactory. And all the 
world knows, that the repeal of the orders in council resulted from 
the inquiry, reluctantly acceded to by the ministry, into the effect 
upon their manufacturing establishments of our non-importation law, 
or to the warlike attitude assumed by this government, or to both. 
But it is said that the orders in council are withdrawn, no matter from 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL- [ g 

what cause ; and that having been the sole motive for declining the 
war, the relations of peace ought to be restored. This brings me to 
the examination of the grounds for continuing the present hostilities 
between this country and Great Britain. 

I am far from acknowledging that, had the orders in council 1 <•< n 
repealed, as they have been, before the Avar was declared, the decla- 
ration of hostilities would of course have been prevented. In a body 
so numerous as this is, from which the declaration emanated, it is im- 
possible to say, with any degree of certainty, what would have been 
the effect of such a repeal. Each member must answer for himself. 
As to myself, I have no hesitation in saying, that I have always con- 
sidered the impressment of American seamen as much the most 
serious aggression. But, sir, how r have those orders at last been re- 
pealed ? Great Britain, it is true, has intimated a willingness to sus- 
pend their practical operation, but she still arrogates to herself the 
right to revive them upon certain contingencies, of which she consti- 
tutes herself the sole judge. She waves the temporary use of the 
rod, but she suspends it in terrorem over our heads. Supposing it to 
be conceded to gentlemen that such a repeal of the orders in council 
as took place on the twenty-third June last, exceptionable as it is, 
being known before the war was proclaimed, would have prevented it : 
does it follow that it ought to induce us to lay down our arms, with- 
out the redress of any other injury of which we complain ? Does it 
follow, in all cases, that that which would, in the first instance, have 
prevented, would also terminate the war ? By no means. It requires 
a strong and powerful effort in a nation, prone to peace as this is, to 
burst through its habits and encounter the difficulties and privations 
of war. Such a nation ought but seldom to embark in a belligerent 
contest ; but when it does, it should be for obvious and essential 
rights alone, and should firmly resolve to extort, at all hazards, their 
recognition. The war of the revolution is an example of a war begun 
for one object and prosecuted for another. It was waged, in its com- 
mencement, against the right asserted by the parent country to tax 
the colonies. Then no one thought of absolute independence. The 
idea of independence was repelled. But the British government 
would have relinquished the principle of taxation. The founders of 
our liberties saw, however, that there was no security short of inde- 
pendence, and they achieved that independence. When nations are 
engaged in war, those rights in controversy, which are not acknowl- 

31 



46 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

edged by the treaty of peace, are abandoned. And who is prepared 
to say, that American seamen shall be sm rendered as victims to the 
British principle of impressment ? And, sir, what is this principle ? 
She contends that she has a right to the services of her own subjects ; 
and that, in the exercise of this right, she may lawfully impress them, 
even although she finds them in American vessels, upon the high seas, 
without her jurisdiction. Now I deny that she has any right, beyond 
her jurisdiction, to come on board our vessels, upon the high seas, 
for any other purpose than in the pursuit of enemies, or their goods, 
or goods contraband of Avar. But she further contends, that her sub- 
jects cannot renounce their allegiance to her, and cortract a new obli- 
gation to other sovereigns. I do not mean to go into the general 
question of the right of expatriation. If, as is contended, all nations 
deny it, all nations at the same time admit and practise the right of 
naturalization. Great Britain herself does this. Great Britain, in 
the very case of foreign seamen, imposes, perhaps, fewer restraints 
upon naturalization than any other nation. Then, if subjects can- 
not break their original allegiance, they may, according to uni- 
versal usage, contract a new allegiance. What is the effect of this 
double obligation ? Undoubtedly, that the sovereign having the pos- 
session of the subject, would have the right to the services of the 
subject. If he return within the jurisdiction of his primitive sov- 
ereign, he may resume his right to his services, of which the subject, 
by his own act, could not divest himself. But his primitive sovereign 
can have no right to go in quest of him, out of his own jurisdiction, 
into the jurisdiction of another sovereign, or upon the high seas, where 
there exists either no jurisdiction, or it is possessed by the nation 
owning the ship navigating them. But, sir, this discussion is alto- 
gether useless. It is not to the British principle, objectionable as it 
is, that we are alone to look ; it is to her practice, no matter what 
guise she puts on. It is in vain to assert the inviolability of the obliga- 
tion of allegiance. It is in vain to set up the plea of necessity, and to 
allege that she cannot exist without the impressment of HER sea- 
men. The naked truth is, she comes, by her press-gangs, on board 
of our vessels, seizes OUR native as well as naturalized seamen, and 
drags them into her service. It is the case, then, of the assertion of 
an erroneous principle, and of a practice not conformable to the as- 
serted principle — a principle which, if it were theoretically right, 
must be for ever practically wrong — a practice which can obtain coun- 
tenance from no principle whatever, and to submit to which, on out 



ON THE NEW ARMT BILL. 



47 



part, would betray the most abject degradation. We are told by gen- 
tlemen in the opposition, that government has not done all that was 
incumbent on it to do, to avoid just cause of complaint on the part 
of Great Britain — that, in particular, the certificates of protection, 
authorized by the act of 1796, are fraudulently used. Sir, govern- 
ment has done too much in granting those paper protections. I can 
never think of them without being shocked. They resemble the 
passes which the master grants to his negro slave — " Let the bearer, 
Mungo, pass and repass without molestation." What do they imply ? 
That Great Britain has a right to seize all who are not provided with 
them. From their very nature they must be liable to abuse on both 
sides. If Great Britain desires a mark by which she can know her 
own subjects, let her give them an ear mark. The colors that float 
from the mast head should be the credentials of our seamen. There 
is no safety to us, and the gentlemen have shown it, but in the rule 
that all who sail under the flag, (not being enemies,) are protected by 
the flag. It is impossible that this country should ever abandon the 
gallant tars who have won for us such splendid trophies. Let me 
suppose that the Genius of Columbia should visit one of them in his 
oppressor's prison, and attempt to reconcile him to his forlorn and 
wretched condition. She would say to him, in the language of gen- 
tlemen on the other side, " Great Britain intends you no harm ; she 
did not mean to impress you, but one of her own subjects ; having 
taken you by mistake, I will remonstrate, and try to prevail upon 
her, by peaceful means, to release you, but I cannot, my son, fight 
tor you." If he did not consider this mere mockery, the poor tar 
would address her judgment and say, " You owe me, my country, pro- 
tection ; I owe you, in return, obedience. I am no British subject ; 
lama native of old Massachusetts, where live my aged father, my 
wife, my children. I have faithfully discharged my duty. Will you 
refuse to do yours ?" Appealing to her passions, he would continue : 
" I lost this eye in fighting under Truxton, with the Insurgente ; I 
got this scar before Tripoli ; I broke this leg on board the Constitu- 
tion, when the Guerriere struck." If she remained still unmoved, 
he would break out, in the accents of mingled distress and despair — 

" Hard, hard is my fate ! once I freedom enjoyed, 
Was as happy as happy could be ! 
Oh ! how hard is my fate, how galling these chains !" 

I will not imagine the dreadful catastrophe to which he would be 



48 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

driven, by an abandonment of him to his oppressor. It will not be, 
it cannot be, that this country will refuse him protection. 

It is said that Great Britain has been always willing to make a satis- 
factory arrangement of the subject of impressment, and that Mr King 
had nearly concluded one prior to his departure from that country. 
Let us hear what that minister says, upon his return to America. In 
his letter dated at New- York, in July, 1803, after giving an account 
of his attempt to form an arrangement for the protection of our sea- 
men, and his interviews to this end with Lords Hawkesbury and St. 
Vincent, and stating that, when he had supposed the terms of a con- 
vention were agreed upon, a new pretension was set up, (the mare 
clausum,) he concludes : " I regret not to have been able to put this 
business on a satisfactory footing, knowing as I do its very great im- 
portance to both parties ; but I flatter myself that I have not misjudged 
the interests of our own country, in refusing to sanction a principle 
that might be productive of more extensive evils than those it was our 
aim to prevent." The sequel of his negotiation, on this affair, is more 
fully given in the recent conversation between Mr. Russell and Lord 
Castlereagh, communicated to Congress during its present session 
Lord Castlereagh says to Mr. Russell : 

" Indeed, there has evidently been much misapprehension on this subject, an erro- 
neous belief entertained that an arrangement in regard to it, has been nearer an ac- 
complishment than the facts will warrant. Even our friends in Congress, I mean 
those who are opposed to going to war with us, have been so confident in this mis- 
take, that they have ascribed the failure of such an arranginent solely to the mis- 
conduct of the American government. This error probably originated with Mr. 
King, for, being much esteemed here, and always well received by the persons in 
power, he seems to have misconstrued their readiness to listen to his representa- 
tions^ and their warm professions of a disposition to remove the complaints of Ame - 
rica in relation to impressment, into a supposed conviction, on their part, of the pro- 
priety of adopting the plan which he had proposed. But Lord St. Vincent, whom 
he might have thought he had brought over to his opinions, appears never for a 
moment to have ceased to regard all arrangements on the subject, to be attended 
■with formdiable, if not insurmountable obstacles. This is obvious from a letter 
which his lordship addressed to Sir Wm. Scott at the time." Here Lord Castle- 
reagh read a letter, contained in the records before him. in which Lord St. Vin- 
cent states to Sir Wm. Scott the zeal with which Mr. King has assailed him on the 
subject of impressment, confesses his own perplexity, and total incompetency to 
discover any practical project for the safe discontinuance of that practice, and asks 
for counsel and advice. " Thus you Bee," proceeded Lord Castlereagh, " that the 
confidence of Mr. King on this subject was entirely unfounded." 

Thus it is apparent, that, at no time, has the enemy been willing 
to place this subject on a satisfactory footing. I will speak hereafter 
©f the overtures made by the administration since the war. 

The honorable gentleman from New York, (Mr. Blee»-)^,) in tl? 



Orf THE NEW A MET KILL- 49 

very" sensible speech with which he favored the committee, made one 
observation which did not comport with his usual liberal and enlarged 
views. It was that those who are most interested against the prac 
tice of impressment, did not desire a continuance of the war on ac- 
count of it, whilst those (the southern and western members) who 
had no interest in it, were the zealous advocates of American seamen 
It was a provincial sentiment unworthy of that gentleman. It was 
one which, in a change of condition, he would not express, because 
I know he could not feel it. Does not that gentleman feel for the 
unhappy victims of the tomahawk in the western wilds, although his 
quarter of the Union may be exempted from similar barbarities r I 
am sure he does. If there be a description of rights which, more 
than any other, should unite all parties in all quansrs of the Union, 
it is unquestionably the rights of the person. No matter what his 
vocation ; whether he seeks subsistence amidst thb dangers of the 
deep, or draws them from the bowels of the earth, or from the hum- 
blest occupations of mechanic life : whenever the sacred rights of an 
American freeman are assailed, all hearts ought to unite, and every 
arm should be braced to vindicate his cause. 

The gentleman from Delaware sees in Canada no object worthy of 
conquest. According to him, it is a cold, sterile, and inhospitable 
region. And yet, such are the allurements which it offers, that the 
same gentleman apprehends that, if it be annexed to the United 
States, already too much weakened by an extension of territory, the 
people of New England will rush over the line and depopulate that 
section of the Union ! That gentleman considers it honest to hold 
Canada as a kind of hostage ; to regard it as a sort of bond for the 
good behavior of the enemy. But he will not enforce the bond. 
The actual conquest of that country would, according to him, make 
no impression upon the enemy, and yet, the very apprehension only 
of such a conquest would at all times have a powerful operation 
upon him! Other gentlemen consider the invasion of that country 
as wicked and unjustifiable. Its inhabitants are represented as 
harmless and unoffending ; as connected with those of the bordering 
States by a thousand tender ties, interchanging acts of kindness, and 
all the offices of good neighborhood. Canada innocent ! Canada 
unoffending ! Is it not in Canada that the tomahawk of the savage 
has been moulded into its death-like form? Has it not been from 
Canadian magazines, Maiden and others, that those supplies have 



50 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Deen issued which nourish and continue the Indian hostilities ? sup- 
plies which have enabled the savage hordes to butcher the garrison 
of Chicago, and to commit other horrible excesses and murders ? 
Was it not by the joint co-operation of Canadians and Indians that & 
remote American fort, Michilimackinac, was assailed and reduced, 
while in ignorance of a state of war ? But, sir, how soon have the 
opposition changed their tone ! When the administration was striv- 
ing, by the operation of peaceful measures, to bring Great Britain 
back to a sense of justice, they were for old-fashioned war. And 
now they have got old-fashioned war, their sensibilities are cruelly 
shocked, and all their sympathies lavished upon the harmless inhabi- 
tants of the adjoining provinces. What does a state of war present ? 
The united energies of one people, arrayed against the combined ener- 
gies of another — a conflict in which each party aims to inflict all the 
injury it can, by sea and land, upon the territories, property, and citi- 
zens of the other, subject only to the rules of mitigated war, practised 
by civilized nations. The gentleman would not touch the continental 
provinces of the enemy, nor, I presume, for the same reason, her pos- 
sessions in the West Indies. The same humane spirit would spare the 
seamen and soldiers of the enemy. The sacred person of his majesty 
must not be attacked, for the learned gentlemen on the other side are 
quite familiar with the maxim, that the king can do no wrong. In- 
deed, sir, I know of no person on whom we may make war, upon the 
principles of the honorable gentlemen, but Mr. Stephen, the celebra- 
ted author of the orders in council, or the board of admiralty, who 
authorize and regulate the practice of impressment ! 

The disasters of the war admonish us, we are told, of the necessity 
of terminating the contest. If our achievements by land have been 
less splendid than those of our intrepid seamen by water, it is not 
because the American soldier is less brave. On the one element or- 
ganization, discipline, and a thorough knowledge of their duties 
exist, on the part of the officers and their men. On the other, 
almost every thing is yet to be acquired. We have, however, the 
consolation that our country abounds with the richest materials, and 
that in no instance when engaged in action have our arms been tar- 
fiished. At Brownstown and at Queenstown the valor of veterans 
was displayed, and acts of the noblest heroism were performed. It 
«s true, that the disgrace of Detroit remains to be wiped off. That is 
a subject on which I cannot trust my feelings ; it is not fitting I sh«>ul4 



ON THE NEW ARMY BILL. 51 

speaK of it. But this much I will say, it was an event which no human 
foresight could have anticipated, and for which the administration 
cannot be justly censured. It was the parent of all the misfortunes 
we have experienced on land. But for it the Indian war would have 
been in a great measure prevented or terminated ; the ascendency on 
Lake Erie acquired, and the war pushed on perhaps to Montreal. 
With the exception of that event, the war, even upon the land, has 
been attended by a series of the most brilliant exploits, which, what- 
ever interest they may inspire on this side of the mountains, have 
given the greatest pleasure on the other. The expedition under the 
command of Governor Edwards and Colonel Russel, to Lake Peoria, 
on the Illinois, Avas completely successful. So w r as that of Captain 
Craig, who it is said ascended that river still higher. General Hop- 
kins destroyed the prophet's town. We have just received intelli- 
gence of the gallant enterprise of Colonel Campbell. In short, sir, 
the Indian towns have been swept from the mouth to the source of 
the Wabash, and a hostile country has been penetrated far beyond 
the most daring incursions of any campaign during the former Indian 
war. Never w r as more cool, deliberate bravery displayed than that 
by Newman's party from Georgia. And the capture of the Detroit, 
and the destruction of the Caledonia, (whether placed to a maritime 
or land account,) for judgment, skill, and courage on the part of 
Lieutenant Elliott, have never been surpassed. 

It is alledged that the elections in England are in favor of the 
ministry, and that those in this country are against the war. If in 
such a cause (saying nothing of the impurity of their elections) the 
people of that country have rallied round their government, it affords 
a salutary lesson to the people here, who at all hazards ought to 
support theirs, struggling as it is to maintain our just rights. But 
the people here have not been false to themselves ; a great majority 
approve the war, as is evinced by the recent re-election of the Chief 
Magistrate. Suppose it were even true that an entire section of the 
Union were opposed to the war, that section being a minority, is the 
will of the majority to be relinquished ? In that section the real 
strength of the opposition has been greatly exaggerated. Vermont 
has, by two successive expressions of her opinion, approved the dec- 
laration of war. In New Hampshire, parties are so nearly equi- 
poised, that out of thirty or thirty-five thousand votes, those who 
approved and are for supporting it, lost the election by only one 



52 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

thousand or one thousand five hundred. ^.In Massachusetts alone 
have they attained any considerable accession. If we come to New- 
York, we shall find that other and local causes have influenced her 
elections. 

What cause, Mr. Chairman, which existed for declaring the war 
has been removed ? We sought indemnity for the past and security 
for the future. The Orders in Council are suspended, not revoked , 
no compensation for spoliations. Indian hostilities, which were be- 
fore secretly instigated, are now openly encouraged ; and the practice 
of impressment unremittingly persevered in and insisted upon. Yet 
the administration has given the strongest demonstrations of its love 
of peace. On the twenty-ninth of June, less than ten days after the 
declaration of war, the Secretary of State writes to Mr. Russell, 
authorizing him to agree to an armistice, upon two conditions only, 
and what were they ? That the orders in council should be repealed, 
and the practice of impressing American seamen cease, those already 
impressed being released. The proposition was for nothing more 
than a real truce ; that the war should in fact cease on both sides. 
Again, on '.he twenty-seventh of July, one month later, anticipating 
a possible objection to thase terms, reasonable as they were, Mr. 
Monroe empowers Mr. Russell to stipulate in general terms for an 
armistice, having only an informal understanding on these points. In 
return, the enemy is offered a prohibition of the employment of his 
seamen in our service, thus removing entirely all pretext for the 
practice of impressment. The very proposition which the gentleman 
from Connecticut (Mr. Pitkin) contends ought to be made, has been 
made. How are these pacific advances met by the other party ? 
Rejected as absolutely inadmissible ; cavils are indulged about the 
inadequacy of Mr. Russell's powers, and the want of an act of Con- 
gress is intimated. And yet the constant usage of nations I believe 
is, where the legislation of one party is necessary to carry into effect 
a given stipulation, to leave it to the contracting party to provide the 
requisite laws. If they fail to do so, it is a breach of good faith, and 
becomes the subject of subsequent remonstrance by the injured party 
When Mr. Russell renews the overture, in what was intended as a 
more agreeable form to the British government, Loid Castlereagh \t 
not content with a simple rejection, but clothes it in the language of 
insult. Afterwards, in conversation with Mr. Russell, the modera- 
tion of our government is misinterpreted and made the occasion of a 



01* THE NEW ARMY BILL- 53 

sneer, that we are tired of the war. The proposition of Admiral 
Warren is submitted in a spirit not more pacific. He is instructed, 
he tells us, to propose that the government of the United States shall 
instantly recall their letters of marque and reprisal against British 
ships, together with all orders and instructions for any acts of hos- 
tility whatever against the territories of his majesty or the persons or 
property of his subjects. That small affair being settled, he is further 
authorized to arrange as to the revocation of the laws which inter- 
dict the commerce and ships of war of his majesty from the harbors 
and waters of the United States. This messenger of peace comes 
with one qualified concession in his pocket, not made to the justice 
of our demands, and is fully empowered to receive our homage, a 
contrite retraction of all our measures adopted against his master ! 
And in default, he does not fail to assure us, the orders in council are 
to be forthwith revived. The administration, still anxious to termi- 
nate the war, suppresses the indignation which such a proposal ought 
to have created, and in its answer concludes by informing Admiral 
Warren, " that if there be no objection to an accommodation of the 
difference relating to impressment, in the mode proposed, other than 
the suspension of the British claim to impressment during the armis- 
tice, there can be none to proceeding, without the armistice, to an im- 
mediate discussion and arrangement of an article on that subject." 
Thus it has left the door of negotiation unclosed, and it remains to 
be seen if the enemy will accept the invitation tendered to him. 
The honorable gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pearson) sup- 
poses, that if Congress would pass a law, prohibiting the employment 
of British seamen in our service, upon condition of a like prohibition 
on their part, and repeal the act of non-importation, peace would 
immediately follow. Sir, I have no doubt if such a law were to pass, 
with all the requisite solemnities, and the repeal to take place, Lord 
Castlereagh would laugh at our simplicity. No, sir, the administra- 
tion has erred in the steps which it has taken to restore peace, but 
its error has been, not in doing too little, but in betraying too great a 
solicitude for that event. An honorable peace is attainable only by 
an efficient war. My plan would be to call out the ample resources 
of the country, give them a judicious direction, prosecute the war 
with the utmost vigor, strike wherever we can reach the enemy, at 
sea or on land, and negotiate the terms of a peace at Quebec or at 
Halifax. We are told that England is a proud and lofty nation, 

32 



54 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

which, disdaining to wait for danger, meets it half way. Haughty 
as she is, we once triumphed over her, and, if we do not listen to the 
counsels of timidity and despair, we shall again prevail. In such a 
cause, with the aid of Providence, we must come out crowned with 
success ; but if we fail, let us fail like men, lash ourselves to our 
gallant tars, and expire together in one common struggle, fighting for 

FREE TRADE AND SEAMEN'S RIGHTS. 



[Mr. Clay resigned his seat in Congress on the 19th of January, 1814, having 
been appointed by President Madison a Commissioner to proceed to Gottenburg 
(afterward changed to Ghent) to meet Commissioners from Great Britain to nego- 
tiate a Treaty of Peace. The thanks of the House were tendered him on his retire- 
ment, for his able and impartial discharge of the duties of Speaker : Yeas 144, Nays 
nine — scarcely a sixth of the Federalists voting against it in that period of the bit- 
terest party spirit and the most excited political feelings. He returned thanks in a 
brief and feeling address. 

Mr. Clay repaired to Ghent, took a leading part in negotiating the Treaty,* and 
returned amid the enthusiastic acclamations of the whole country. During his 
absence he had been unanimously re-elected to Congress, but, some doubts being 
started of the legality of that election, he was unanimously elected over again upon 
his return. On taking his seat, he was at once chosen Speaker, by 87 votes to 35 
blanks and scattering; and again re-elected in 1818, by 140 votes to 6 for Gen. 
Samuel Smith, of Maryland, and again in 1819 by 148 to 7 scattering.] 

* The following anecdote of Mr. Clay at Ghent is worth repeating: 

Being- on a tour through the Netherlands, preparatory to the negotiation, Hon. Henry Goulbourn, one of tin 
British Commissioners, procured and sent him a file of London papers, containing accounts of the Burning o( 
Washington by the British troops, with a courteous epistle, staling that he presumed Mr. C. would be happy U n 
eeWe the latest news from America. Mr. Clay returned his thanks for the civility, and in further acknowledg* 
ntOQt enclosed to Mr. G. a later file of Paris papers, containing accounts of the defeat of Sir George ProToata* 
PUUaburgb, and the utter destruction of the British flotilla in the fight off that place ! 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

In the House of Representatives, March 13, 181S. 



[The subject of Internal Improvement, and of the aid which ought to be afforded 
it by th^ federal Government, began deeply to agitate the public mind, soon after 
the close of our last War with Great Britain. New York commenced her gigantic 
undertaking, (as it then truly seemed,) and called upon Congress for assistance. 
Other sections also presented claims, and urged them with earnestness and force 
A report in favor of appropriating the bonus paid for her charter by the United 
States Bank to this purpose, was made by a Select Committee. The general ques- 
tion being under discussion, Mr. Clay addressed the House as follows :] 

I have been anxious to catch the eye of the Chairman for a few 
moments, to reply to some of the observations which have fallen 
from various gentlemen. I am aware that, in doing this, I risk 
the loss of what is of the utmost value — the kind favor of the House, 
wearied as its patience is by this prolonged debate. But when I 
feel what a deep interest the Union at large, and particularly that 
quarter of it whence I come, has in the decision of the present ques- 
tion, I cannot omit any opportunity of earnestly urging upon the House 
the propriety of retaining the important power which this question 
involves. It will be recollected, that if unfortunately there should 
be a majority both against the abstract proposition asserting the 
power, and against its practical execution, the power is gone for 
ever — the question is put at rest so long as the constitution remains 
as it is ; and with respect to any amendment, in this particular, I 
confess I utterly despair. It will be borne in mind, that the bill 
which passed Congress on this subject, at the last session, was reject- 
ed by the late President of the United States ; that at the commence- 
ment of the present session, the President communicated his clear 
opinion, after every effort to come to a different conclusion, that 
Congress does not possess the power contended for, and called upon 
ut to take up the subject in the shape of an amendment to the Con- 



56 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

stitution ; and, moreover, that the predecessor of the present and late 
Presidents, has also intimated his opinion that Congress does not pos- 
sess the power. With the great weight and authority of the opin- 
ions of these distinguished men against the power, and with the fact, 
solemnly entered upon the record, that this House, after a deliberate 
review of the ground taken by it at the last session, has decided 
against the existence of it, (if such, fatally, shall be the decision,) 
the power, I repeat, is gone — gone for ever, unless restored by an 
amendment of the constitution. With regard to the practicability 
of obtaining such an amendment, I think it altogether out of the 
question. Two different descriptions of persons, entertaining senti- 
ments directly opposed, will unite and defeat such an amendment ; 
one embracing those who believe that the constitution, fairly inter 
preted, already conveys the power, and the other, those who think 
that Congress has not and ought not to have it. As a large portion 
of Congress, and probably a majority, believes the power to exist, it 
must be evident, if I am right in supposing that any considerable 
number of that majority would vote against an amendment which 
they do not believe necessary, that any attempt to amend would fail. 
Considering, as I do, the existence of the power as of the first im- 
portance, not merely to the preservation of the Union of the States, 
paramount as that consideration ever should be over all others, but 
to the prosperity of every great interest of the country, agriculture, 
manufactures, commerce, in peace and in war, it becomes us sol- 
emnly, and deliberately, and anxiously to examine the constitution, 
and not to surrender it, if fairly to be collected from a just interpre- 
tation of that instrument. 

With regard to the alarm sought to be created as to the nature of 
the power, by bringing up the old theme of " State Rights," I 
would observe, that if the illustrious persons just referred to are 
against us in the construction of the constitution, they are on our 
side as to the harmless and beneficial character of the power. For 
it is not to be conceived that each of them would have recommended 
an amendment to the constitution, if they believed that the posses- 
sion of such a power, by the General Government, would be detri- 
mental, much less dangerous, to the independence and liberties of 
the States. What real ground is there for this alarm ? Gentlemen 
have not condescended to show how the subversion of the rights of 
the States is to follow from the exercise of the power of internal im- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT- 57 

proveraents by the General Government. We contend for the power 
to make roads and canals, to distribute the intelligence,, force, and 
productions of the country through all its parts ; and for such juris- 
diction only over them as is necessary to their preservation from 
wanton injury and from gradual decay. Suppose such a power is 
sustained and in full operation ; imagine it to extend to every canal 
made, or proposed to be made, and to every post-road, how incon- 
siderable and insignificant is the power in a political point of view, 
limited as it is with regard to place and to purpose, when contrasted 
with the great mass of powers retained by the state sovereignties ! 
What a small subtraction from the mass ! Even upon these roads 
and canals, the state governments, according to our principles, will 
still exercise jurisdiction over every possible case arising upon them, 
whether of crime or of contract, or any other human transaction, 
except only what immediately affects their existence and preserva- 
tion. Thus defined, thus limited, and striped of all factitious causes 
of alarm, I will appeal to the candor of gentlemen to say if the power 
really presents any thing frightful in it ? With respect to post-roads, 
our adversaries admit the right of way in the general government. 
There have been, however, on this question, some instances of con- 
flict, but they have passed away without any serious difficulty. Con- 
necticut, if I have been rightly informed, disputed, at one period, the 
right of passage of the mail on the Sabbath. The general government 
persisted in the exercise of the right, and Connecticut herself and 
every body else, have acquiesced in it. 

The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. H. Nelson) has contended that 
I do not adhere, in the principles of construction which I apply to 
the constitution, to the republican doctrines of 1798, of which that 
gentleman would have us believe he is the constant disciple. Let 
me call the attention of the committee to the celebrated state paper 
to which we both refer for our principles in this respect — a paper 
which, although I have not seen it for sixteen years, (until the gen- 
tleman had the politeness to furnish me with it during this debate,) 
made such an impression on my mind, that I shall never forget the 
satisfaction with which I perused it. I find that I have used, with- 
out having been aware of it, when I formerly addressed the commit 
tee, almost the same identical language employed by Mr. Madison 
In that paper. It will be recollected that I claimed no right to ex- 
eroise any power under the constitution, unless such power was ex 



68 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

pressly granted, or necessary and proper to carry into effect, some 
granted power. I have not sought to derive power from the clause 
which authorizes Congress to appropriate money. I have been con- 
tented with endeavoring to show, that according to the doctrines of 
1798, and according to the most rigid interpretation which any one 
will put upon the instrument, it is expressly given in one case, and 
fairly deducible in others. 

[Here Mr. Clay read sundry passages from Mr. Madison's report to the Virginia 
legislature, in an answer to the resolutions of several States, concerning the Alien 
and Sedition laws, snowing that there were no powers in the general government 
but what were granted, and that, whenever a power was claimed to be exercised by 
it, such power must be shown to be granted, or to be necessary anil proper to carry 
into effect one of the specified powers.] 

It will be remarked, that Mr. Madison, in his reasoning on the 
constitution, has not employed the language fashionable during this 
debate ; he has not said that an implied power must be absolutely 
necessary to carry into effect the specified power, to which it is ap- 
purtenant, to enable the general government to exercise it. No ! 
This was a modern interpretation of the constitution. Mr. Madison 
has employed the language of the instrument itself, and has only 
contended that the implied power must be necessary and proper to 
carry into effect the specified power. He has only insisted that 
when Congress applied its sound judgment to the constitution in rela- 
tion to implied powers, it should be clearly seen that they were ne- 
cessary and proper to effectuate the specified powers. These are my 
principles ; but they are not those of the gentleman from Virginia and 
nis friends on this occasion. They contend for a degree of necessity 
absolute and indispensable ; that by no possibility can the power be 
otherwise executed. 

That there are two classes of powers in the constitution, I be- 
lieve has never been controverted by an American politician. We 
cannot foresee and provide specifically for all contingencies. Man 
and his language are both imperfect. Hence the existence of con- 
struction and of constructive powers. Hence also the rule that a 
grant of the end is a grant of the means. If you amend the constitu- 
tion a thousand times, the same imperfection of our nature and our 
language will attend our new works. There are tvo dangers to 
which we are exposed. The one is, that the general government 
may relapse into the debility which existed in the old confederation, 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 55> 

and finally dissolve from the want of cohesion. The denial to it of 
powers plainly conferred, or clearly necessary and proper to execute 
the conferred powers, may produce this effect. And I think, with 
great deference to the gentlemen on the other side, this is the danger 
to which their principles directly tend. The other danger, that of 
consolidation, is, by the assumption of powers not granted nor inci- 
dent to granted powers, or the assumption of powers which have 
been withheld or expressly prohibited. This was the danger of the 
period of 179S-9. For instance, that in direct contradiction to a 
prohibitory clause of the constitution, a sedition act was passed ; and 
an alien law was also passed, in equal violation of the spirit, if not of 
the express provisions of the constitution. It was by such measures 
that the Federal party, (if parties might be named,) throwing off the 
veil, furnished to their adversaries the most effectual ground of oppo- 
sition. If they had not passed those acts, I think it highly probable 
that the current of power would have continued to flow in the same 
channel ; and the change of parties in 1 SOI, so auspicious to the best 
interests of the country, as I believe, would never have occurred. 

I beg the committee — I entreat the true friends of the confederated 
union of these States, to examine this doctrine of State rights, and see 
to what abusive, if not dangerous consequences, it may lead, to what 
extent it has been carried, and how it has varied by the same State 
at different times. In alluding to the State of Massachusetts, I assure 
the gentlemen from that State, and particularly the honorable chair- 
man of the committee to whom the claim of Massachusetts has been 
referred, that I have no intention to create any prejudice against that 
claim. I hope that when the subject is taken up, it will be candidly 
and dispassionately considered, and that a decision will be made on it 
consistent with the rights of the Union, and of the State of Massa- 
chusetts. The high character, amiable disposition, and urbanity of the 
gentleman to whom I have alluded, (Mr. Mason of Massachusetts,) 
will, if 1 had been otherwise inclined, prevent me from endeavoring 
to make impressions unfavorable to the claim whose justice that gen- 
tleman stands pledged to manifest. But in the period of 1798-9, 
« it was the doctrine promulgated by Massachusetts ? It was that 
the States in their sovereign capacity had no right to examine into 
tli ■ onstitutionality or expediency of the measures of the general 
governm .nt 



60 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 



[Mr. Clay here quoted several passages from the answer of the State cf 
chwsettsto the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, concerning the Alien and Sedition 
laws, to prove his position] 

We see here an express disclaimer on the part of Massachusetts of 
any right to decide on the constitutionality, or expediency of the acts of 
the general government. But what was the doctrine which the same 
State, in 1813, thought proper to proclaim to the world, and that, too, 
when the Union was menaced on all sides ? She not only claimed, 
but exercised the right which in 1799 she had so solemnly disavow- 
ed. She claimed the right to judge of the propriety of the call made, 
by the general government for her militia, and she refused the militia 
called for. There is so much plausibility in the reasoning employed 
by that State in support of her modern doctrine of State rights, that, 
were it not for the unpopularity of the stand she took in the late war, 
or had it been in other times, and under other circumstances, she 
would very probably have escaped a great portion of that odium 
which has so justly fallen to her lot. The constitution gives to Con- 
gress power to provide for calling out the militia to execute the laws 
of the Union, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions ; and 
in no other cases. The militia was called out by the general govern- 
ment, during the late war, to repel invasion. Massachusetts said, as 
you have no right to the militia, but in certain contingencies, she was 
competent to decide whether those contingencies had or had not oc- 
curred. And, having examined the facts, what then ? She said all 
was peace and quietness in Massachusetts. No non-execution of the 
laws — no insurrection at home — no invasion from abroad, nor any 
immediate danger of invasion. And, in truth, I believe there was no 
actual invasion for nearly two years after #ie requisition. Under 
these circumstances, were it not for the supposed motive of her con- 
duet, would not the case which Massachusetts made out have looked 
extremely plausible ? I hope it is not necessary for me to say, that 
it is very far from my intention to convey any thing like approbation 
of the conduct of Massachusetts. No ! My doctrine is that the 
States, as States, have no right to oppose the execution of the powers 
which the general government asserts. Any State has undoubtedly 
the right to express its opinion, in the form of resolution or other- 
wise, and to proceed, by constitutional means, to redress any real or 
imaginary grievance ; but it has no right to withhold its military aid, 
when called upon by the high authorities of the general government, 
much less to obstruct the execution of a law regularly passed. To 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 6i 

suppose the existence of such an alarniing right, is to suppose, if not 
disunion itself, such a state of disorder and confusion, as must inevit- 
ably lead to it. 

Greatly as I venerate the State which gave me birth, and much as 
I respect the judges of its Supreme Court, several of whom are my 
personal friends, I am obliged to think that some of the doctrines 
which that State has recently held concerning State rights, are fraught 
with much danger. If those doctrines had been asserted during the 
late war, a large share of the public disapprobation which has been 
given to Massachusetts would have fallen to Virginia. What are 
these doctrines ? The courts of Virginia assert that they have a right 
to determine on the constitutionality of any law or treaty of the Uni- 
ted States, and to expound them according to their own views, even 
if they should vary from the decision of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. They assert more — that from their decision there can 
be no appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States ; and that 
there exists in Congress no power to frame a law, obliging the court 
of the State, in the last resort, to submit its decision to the supervision 
of the Supreme Court of the United States ; or, if I do not misunder- 
stand the doctrine, to withdraw from the State tribunal controversies 
involving the laws of the United States, and to place them before the 
federal judiciary. I am a friend, a true friend, to State rights ; but 
not in all cases as they are asserted. The States have their appointed 
orbit ; so has the Union ; and each should be confined within its fair, 
legitimate, and constitutional sphere. We should equally avoid that 
subtle process of argument which dissipates into air the powers of 
this government, and that spirit of encroachment which would snatch 
from the State powers not delegated to the general government. We 
shall thus escape both the dangers I have noticed — that of relapsing 
into the alarming weakness of the confederation, which is described as 
a mere rope of sand ; and also that other, perhaps not the greatest 
danger, consolidation. No man deprecates more than I do, the idea of 
consolidation; yet between separation and consolidation, painful as 
would be the alternative, I would greatly prefer the latter. 

I will now proceed to endeavor to discover the real difference, in 
the interpretation of the constitution, between the gentlemen on the 
other side and myself. It is agreed that there is no power in the 
general government but that which is expressly granted, or which is 

33 



62 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

impliable from an express grant. The difference then must be in the 
application of this rule. The gentleman from Virginia, who has favor- 
ed the house with so able an argument on the subject, has conceded 
though somewhat reluctantly, the existence of incidental powers, but 
he contended that they must have a direct and necessary relation to 
some specified power. Granted. But who is to judge of this rela- 
tion ? And what rule can you prescribe different from that which 
the constitution has required, that it should be necessary and proper ? 
Whatever may be the rule, in whatever language you may choose to 
express it, there must be a certain degree of discretion left to the 
agent who is to apply it. But gentlemen are alarmed at this discre- 
tion ; that law of tyrants, on which they contend there is no limi- 
tation. It should be observed, in the first place, that the gentlemen 
are brought, by the very course of reasoning which they themselves 
employ, by all the rules which they would lay down for the consti- 
tution, to cases where discretion must exist. But is there no limi- 
tation, no security against the abuse of it ? Yes, there is such secu- 
rity in the fact of our being members of the same society, equally 
affected ourselves by the laws we promulgate. There is the further 
security in the oath which is taken to support the constitution, and 
which will tend to restrain Congress from deriving powers which are 
not proper and necessary. There is the yet further security, that, at 
the end of every two years, the members must be amenable to the peo- 
ple for the manner in which their trusts haye been performed. And 
there remains also that further, though awful security, the last resort 
of society, which I contend belongs alike to the people and to the 
States in their sovereign capacity, to be exercised in extreme cases, 
and when oppression becomes intolerable, the right of resistance. 
Take the gentleman's own doctrine, (Mr. Barbour,) the most restrict- 
ed which has been asserted, and what other securities have we 
against the abuse of power, than those which I have enumerated ? 
Say that there must be an absolute necessity to justify the exercise 
of an implied power, who is to define that absolute necessity, and 
then to apply it ? Who is to be the judge ? Where is the security 
against transcending that limit ? The rule the gentleman contends 
for has no greater security than that insisted upon by us. It equally 
leads to the same, discretion, a sound discretion, exercised under all 
the responsibility of a solemn oath, of a regard to our fair fame, of a 
knowledge that we are ourselves the subjects of those laws which 
we pass, and lastly, of the right of resisting insupportable tyranny 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 63 

And, by way of illustration, if the sedition act had not been con- 
demned by the indignant voice of the community, the right of 
resistance would have accrued. If Congress assumed the power to 
control the right of speech, and to assail, by penal statutes, the great- 
est of all the bulwarks of liberty, the freedom of the press, and there 
were no other means to arrest their progress, but that to which I 
have referred, lamentable as would be the appeal, such a monstrous 
abuse of power, I contend, would authorize a recurrence to that 
right. 

If, then, the gentlemen on the other side and myself differ so little 
in our general principles, as I think I have shown, I will proceed, for 
a few moments, to look at the constitution a little more in detail. 
I have contended that the power to construct post-roads is expressly 
granted in the power to establish post-roads. If it be, there is an 
end of the controversy ; but if not, the next inquiry is, whether that 
power may be fairly deduced, by implication, from any of the special 
grants of power. To show that the power is expressly granted, 1 
might safely appeal to the arguments already used, to prove that the 
words establish, in this case, can mean only one thing — the right of 
making. Several gentlemen have contended that the word has a 
different sense ; and one has resorted to the preamble of the constitu- 
tion to show that the phrase " to establish justice," there used, does 
not convey the power of creation. If the word "establish" is there 
to be taken in the sense which gentlemen claim for it, that of adop- 
tion or designation, Congress could have a choice only of systems 
of justice pre-existing. Will any gentleman contend that we are 
obliged to take the Justinian code, the Napoleon code, the code of 
civil, or the code of common or cannon law ? Establishment means 
in the preamble, as in other cases, construction, formation, creation. 
Let me ask, in all cases of crime, which are merely malum prohibi- 
tum, if you do not resort to construction, to creating, when you make 
the offence ? By your laws denouncing certain acts as criminal offen- 
ces, laws which the good of society requires you to pass, and to adapt 
to our peculiar condition, you do construct and create a sj^stem of 
rules, to be administered by the judiciary. But gentlemen say that 
the word cannot mean make ; that you would not say, for example, 
to establish a ship, to establish a chair. In the application of this, 
as of all other terms, you must be guided by the nature of the subject . 
and if it cannot properly be used in all cases, it does not follow that 



64 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

it cannot be in any. And when we take into consideration, that 
under the old articles of confederation, Congress had over the subject 
of post-roads just as much power as gentlemen allow to the existing 
government, that it was the general scope and spirit of the new con- 
stitution to enlarge the powers of the general government, and that, 
in fact, in this very clause, the power to establish post-offices, which 
was alone possessed by the former government, I think that I may 
safely consider the argument, on this part of the subject, as success- 
fully maintained. With respect to military roads, the concession 
that they may be made when called for by the emergency, is admit- 
ting that the constitution conveys the power. And we may safely 
appeal to the judgment of the candid and enlightened, to decide be- 
tween the wisdom of these two constructions, of which one requires 
you to wait for the exercise of your power until the arrival of an 
emergency, which may not allow you to exert it, and the other, 
without denying you the power, if you can exercise it during the 
emergency, claims the right of providing beforehand against the emer- 
gency. 

One member has stated what appeared to him a conclusive argu- 
ment against the power to cut canals, that he had understood that a 
proposition, made in the convention to insert such a power, was re- 
jected. To this argument more than one sufficient answer can be 
made. In the first place, the fact itself has been denied, and I have 
never yet seen any evidence of it. But, suppose that the proposition 
had been made and overruled, unless the motives of the refusal to 
insert it are known, gentlemen are not authorized to draw the infer- 
ence that it was from hostility to the power, or from a desire to with- 
hold it from Congress. May not one of the objections be, that the 
power was fairly to be inferred from some of the specific grants of 
power, and that it was therefore not necessary to insert the proposi- 
tion ; that to adopt it, indeed, might lead to weaken or bring into 
doubt other incidental powers not enumerated ? A member from 
New York, (Mr. Storrs,) whose absence I regret on this occasion, 
not only on account of the great aid which might have been expected 
from him, but from the cause of that absence, has informed me that, 
in the convention of that State, one of the objections to the constitu- 
tion by the anti-federalists was, that it was understood to convey to 
the general government the power to cut canals. How often, in the 
course of the proceedings of this House, do we reject amendments, 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 65 

upon the sole ground that they are not necessary, the principle of the 
amendment being already contained in the proposition. 

I refer to the Federalist, for one moment, to show that the only 
notice taken of that clause of the constitution which relates to post- 
roads, is favorable to my construction. The power, that book says, 
must always be a harmless one. I have endeavored to show, not 
only that it is perfectly harmless, but that every exercise of it must 
be necessarily beneficial. Nothing which tends to facilitate inter- 
course among the States, says the Federalist, can be unworthy of the 
public care. What intercourse ? Even if restricted on the narrow- 
est theory of gentlemen on the other side, to the intercourse of intel- 
ligence, they deny that to us, since they will not admit that we have 
the power to repair or improve the way, the right of which they 
yield us. In a more liberal and enlarged sense of the word, it will 
comprehend all those various means of accomplishing the object, 
which are calculated to render us a homogeneous people — one in 
feeling, in interest, and affection ; as we are one in our political re- 
lation. 

Is there not a direct and intimate relation between the power to 
make war, and military roads and canals ? It is in vain that the con- 
vention have confided to the general government the tremendous 
power of declaring war — have imposed upon it the duty to employ 
the whole physical means of the nation to render the war, whatever 
may be its character, successful and glorious if the power is with- 
held of transporting and distributing those means. Let us appeal to 
facts, which are sometimes worth volumes of theory. We have re- 
cently had a war raging on all the four quarters of the Union. The 
only circumstance which gave me pain at the close of that war, the 
detention of Moose Island, would not have occurred, if we had pos- 
sessed military roads. Why did not the Union — why did not Mas- 
sachusetts make a struggle to re-conquer the Island ? Not for the 
want of men ; not for the want of patriotism, I hope ; but from the 
want of physical ability to march a force sufficient to dislodge the 
enemy. On the north-western frontier, millions of money, and some 
of the most precious blood of the State from which I have the honor 
to come, was wastefully expended for the want of such roads. My 
honorable friend from Ohio, (Gen. Harrison,) who commanded the 
army in that quaiter, could furnish a volume of evidence on this 



66 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

subject What now paralyzes our arms on the southern frontier, and 
occasioned the recent massacre of fifty of our brave soldiers ? What 
but the want of proper means for the communication of intelligence, 
and for the transportation of our resources from point to point? 
Whether we refer to our own experience, or to that of other coun- 
tries, we cannot fail to perceive the great value of military roads. 
Those great masters of the world, the Romans, how did they sus- 
tain their power so many centuries, diffusing law and liberty, and 
intelligence all around them ? They made permanent military roads ; 
and among the objects of interest which Europe now presents, are 
the remains of those Roman roads, which are shown to the curious 
inquirer. If there were no other monument remaining of the sa- 
gacity and of the illustrious deeds of the unfortunate captive of 
St. Helena, the internal improvements which he made, the road from 
Hamburgh to Basle, would perpetuate his memory to future ages. 
In making these allusions, let me not be misunderstood. I do not 
desire to see military roads established for the purpose of conquest, 
but of defence ; and as a part of that preparation which should be 
made in a season of peace for a season of war, I do not wish to see 
this country ever in that complete state of preparation for war, for 
which some contend ; that is, that we should constantly have a large 
standing army, well disciplined, and always ready to act. I want to 
see the bill, reported by my friend from Ohio, or some other, embra- 
cing an effective militia system, passed into a law ; and a chain of 
roads and canals, by the aid of which our physical means can be 
promptly transported to any required point. These, connected with 
a small military establishment to keep up our forts and garrisons, 
constitute the kind of preparation for war, which, it appears to me, 
this country ought to make. No man, who has paid the least atten- 
tion to the operations of modern war, can have failed to remark how 
essential good roads and canals are to the success of those operations. 
How often have battles been won by celerity and rapidity of move- 
ment ! It is one of the most essential circumstances in war. But, 
without good roads, it is impossible. Members will recall to their 
recollection the fact, that, in the Senate, several years ago, an hon- 
orable friend of mine, (Mr. Bayard,) whose premature death I shall 
ever deplore — who was an ornament to the councils of his country ; 
and who, when abroad, was the able and fearless advocate of her 
rights — did, in supporting a subscription which he proposed the 
United States Bank should make to the stock of the Delaware and 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEHENT 67 

Chesapeake Canal Company, earnestly recommend the measure as 
connected with our operations in war. I listened to my friend with 
some incredulity, and thought he pushed his argument too far. I 
had, soon after, a practical evidence of its justness. For, in travel- 
lino- from Philadelphia, in the fall of 1813, I saw transporting, by 
government, from Elk river to the Delaware, large quantities of 
massy timbers for the construction of the Guerriere or the Franklin, 
or both ; and, judging from the number of wagons and horses, and 
the number of days employed, I believe the additional expense of 
that single operation would have gone very far to complete that 
canal, whose cause was espoused with so much eloquence in the 
Senate, and with so much effect, too, bills having passed that body 
more than once to give aid, in some shape or other, to that canal. 
With notorious facts like this, is it not obvious that a line of military 
canals is not only necessary and proper, but almost indispensable to 
the war-making power ? 

One of the rules of construction which has been laid down, I ac- 
knowledge my incapacity to comprehend. Gentlemen say that the 
power in question is a substantive power ; and that no substantive 
power can be derived by implication. What is their definition of a 
substantive power ? Will they favor us with the principle of discrim- 
ination between powers which, being substantive, are not grantable 
but by express grant, and those which, not being substantive, may be 
conveyed by implication ? Although I do not perceive why this pow- 
er is more entitled than many implied powers to the denomination of 
substantive, suppose that be yielded, how do gentlemen prove that 
it may not be conveyed by implication ? If the positions were main- 
tained, which have not yet been proven, that the power is substan- 
tive, and that no substantive power can be implied, yet I trust it has 
been satisfactorily shown that there is an express grant. 

My honorable friend from Virginia (Mr. Nelson) has denied the 
operation of executive influence on his mind ; and has informed the 
committee that from that quarter he has nothing to expect, to hope, 
or to fear. I did not impute to my honorable friend any such motive ; 
I knew his independence of character and of mind too well to do so. 
But I entreat him to reflect, if he does not expose himself to such an 
imputation by those less friendly disposed towards him than myself 
Let us look a little at facts. The President recommends the estab- 



68 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

lishment of a Bank. If ever there were a stretch of implied powers 
conveyed by the constitution, it has been thought that the grant of 
the charter of the National Bank was one. But the President re- 
commends it. Where was then my honorable friend, the friend of 
State rights, who so pathetically calls upon us to repent, in sackcloth 
and ashes, our meditated violation of the constitution ; and who kindly 
expresses his hope that we shall be made to feel the public indigna- 
tion ? Where was he at that awful epoch ? Where was that eloquent 
tongue which we have now heard with so much pleasure ? Silent ! 
Silent as the grave ! 

[Mr. N. said, across the House, that he had voted against the Bank bill when first 
recommended.] 

Alas ! my honorable friend had not the heart to withstand a second 
recommendation from the President ; but, when it came, yielded, no 
doubt most reluctantly, to the executive wishes, and voted for the 
Bank. At the last session of Congress, Mr. Madison recommended 
(and I will presently make some remarks on that subject) an exer- 
cise of all the existing powers of the general government to establish 
a comprehensive system of internal improvements. Where was my 
honorable friend on that occasion ? Not silent as the grave, but he 
gave a negative vote almost as silent. No effort was made on his 
part, great as he is when he exerts the powers of his well-stored 
mind, to save the commonwealth from that greatest of all calamities, 
a system of internal improvement. No, although a war with all the 
allies, he now thinks, would be less terrible than the adoption of this 
report, not one word then dropped from his lips against the measure. 

[Mr. Nelson said he voted against the bill.] 

That he whispered out an unwilling negative, I do not deny ! but 
it was unsustained by that torrent of eloquence which he has poured 
out on the present occasion. But we have an executive message now, 
not quite as ambiguous in its terms, nor as oracular in its meaning, as 
' that of Mr. Madison appears to have been. No ! the President now 
says, that he has made great efforts to vanquish his objections to the 
power, and that he cannot but believe that it does not exist. Then 
my honorable friend rouses, thunders forth the danger m which the 
constitution is, and sounds the tocsin of alarm. Far from insinuating 
that he is at all biased by the executive wishes, I appeal to his can- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 69 

dor to say, if there is not a remarkable coincidence between his zeal 
and exertions, and the opinions of the chief magistrate ? 

Now let us review those opinions, as communicated at diffeient 
periods. It was the opinion of Mr. Jefferson, that, although there 
was no general power vested, by the constitution, in Congress to 
construct roads and canals, without the consent of the States, yet 
such a power might be exercised with their assent. Mr. Jefferson 
not only held this opinion in the abstract, but he practically executed 
it in the instance of the Cumberland road ; and how ? First by a 
compact made with the State of Ohio, for the application of a speci- 
fied fund, and then by compacts with Virginia, Pennsylvania, and 
Maryland, to apply the fund so set apart within their respective limits. 
If, however, I rightly understood my honorable friend the other day, 
he expressly denied . (and in that I concur with him) that the power 
could be acquired by the mere consent of the State. Yet he defend- 
ed the act of Mr. Jefferson, in the case referred to. j 

[Mr. Nelson expressed his dissent to this statement of his argument.] 

It is far from my intention to misstate the gentleman. I certainly 
understood him to say, that, as the road was first stipulated for in 
the compact with Ohio, it was competent afterwards to carry it 
through the States mentioned, with their assent. Now, if we have 
not the right to make a road in virtue of one compact made with a 
single State, can we obtain it by two contracts made with several 
States ? The character of the fund cannot affect the question. It is 
totally immaterial whether it arises from the sales of the public lands 
or from the general revenue. Suppose a contract made with Massa- 
chusetts, that a certain portion of the revenue, collected at the port 
of Boston from foreign trade, should be expended in making roads 
and canals leading to that State, and that a subsequent compact should 
be made with Connecticut or New Hampshire, for the expenditure 
of the fund on these objects, within their limits. Can we acquire 
the power, in this manner, over internal improvements, if we do not 
possess it independently of such compacts ? I conceive, clearly not. 
And I am entirely at a loss to comprehend how gentlemen, consist- 
ently with their own principles, can justify the erection of the Cum- 
berland road. No man is prouder than I am of that noble monument 
of the provident care of the nation, and of the public spirit of its pro- 

34 



70 3PEECHE8 OF HENRY CLAY. 

jectors ; and I trust that, in spite of all constitutional and other scru- 
ples, here or elsewhere, an appropriation will be made to complete 
that road. I confess, however, freely, that I am entirely unable to 
conceive of any principle on which that road can be supported that 
would not uphold the general power contended for. 

I will now examine the opinion of Mr. Madison. Of all the acts 
of that pure, virtuous, and illustrious statesman, whose administra- 
tion has so powerfully tended to advance the glory, honor, and pros- 
perity of this country, I most regret, for his sake and for the sake of 
the country, the rejection of the bill of the last session. I think it 
irreconcilable with Mr. Madison's own principles — those great, 
broad, and liberal principles on which he so ably administered the 
government. And, sir, when I appeal to the members of the last 
Congress, who are now in my hearing, I am authorized to say, with 
regard to the majority of them, that no circumstance, not even an 
earthquake that should have swallowed up one-half of this city, 
could have excited more surprise than when it was first communi- 
cated to this House, that Mr. Madison had rejected his own bill — I 
say his own bill, for his message at the opening of the session meant 
nothing, if it did not recommend such an exercise of power as was 
contained in that bill. My friend, who is near me, (Mr. Johnson, 
of Virginia,) the operations of whose vigorous and independent mind 
depend upon his own internal perceptions, has expressed himself with 
becoming manliness, and thrown aside the authority of names, as 
havino- no bearing with him on the question. But their authority 
has been referred to, and will have influence with others. It is im- 
possible, moreover, to disguise the fact, that the question is now a 
question between the Executive on the one side, and the Representa- 
tives of the people on the other. So it is understood in the country, 
and such is the fact. Mr. Madison enjoys, in his retreat at Mont- 
pelier, the repose and the honors due to his eminent and laborious 
services ; and I would be among the last to disturb it. However 
painful it is to me to animadvert upon any of his opinions, I feel per- 
fectly sure that the circumstance can only be viewed by him with 
an enlightened liberality. What are the opinions which have been 
expressed by Mr. Madison on this subject ? I will not refer to all 
the messages wherein he has recommended internal improvements ; 
but to that alone which he addressed to Congress at the commence 
ment of the last session, which contains this passage : 



Orr INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 71 

" I particularly invite again the attention of Congress to the expediency of exer- 
cising their existing powers, and, where necessary, of resorting to the prescribed 
mode of enlarging them, in order to effectuate a comprehensive system of roads and 
canals, such as will have the effect of drawing more closely together every part ot 
our country, by promoting intercourse and improvements, and by increasing the 
6hare of every part in the common stock of national prosperity." 

In the examination of this passage, two positions force themselves 
upon our attention. The first is, the assertion that there are exist- 
in<' powers in Congress to effectuate a comprehensive system of roads 
and canals, the effect of which would be to draw the different parts 
of the country more closely together. And I would candidly admit, 
in the second place, that it was intimated, that, in the exercise of 
those existing powers, some defect might be discovered which would 
render an amendment of the constitution necessary. Nothing could 
be more clearly affirmed than tl*e first position ; but. in the message 
of Mr. Madison returning the bill, passed in consequence of his re- 
commendation, he has not specified a solitary case to which those 
existing powers are applicable ; he has not told us what he meant 
by those existing powers ; and the general scope of his reasoning, in 
that message, if well founded, proves that there are no existing 
powers whatever. It is apparent that Mr. Madison himself has not 
examined some of those principal sources of the constitution from 
which, during this debate, the power has been derived. I deeply 
regret, and I know that Mr. Madison regretted, that the circumstan- 
ces under which the bill was presented to him, (the last day but one 
of a most busy session,) deprived him of an opportunity of that 
thorough investigation of which no man is more capable. It is cer- 
tain, that, taking his two messages at the same session together, they 
are perfectly irreconcilable. What, moreover, was the nature of 
that bill ? It did not apply the money to any specific object of inter- 
nal improvement, nor designate any particular mode in which it 
should be applied ; but merely set apart and pledged the fund to the 
general purpose, subject to the future disposition of Congress. If, 
then, there were any supposable case whatever, to which Congress 
might apply money in the erection of a road, or cutting a canal, the 
bill did not violate the constitution. And it ought not to have been 
anticipated, that money constitutionally appropriated by one Con- 
gress would be unconstitutionally expended by another. 

I come now to the message of Mr. Monroe ; and if, by the commu- 
nication of his opinion to Congress, he intended to prevent discussion, 



73 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

he has most wofully failed. I know that, according to 'a most vener- 
able and excellent usage, the opinion, neither of the President nor 
of the Senate, upon any proposition depending in this House, ought 
to be adverted to. Even in the Parliamenl^of Great Britain, a mem- 
ber who would refer to the opinion of the sovereign, in such a case, 
would be instantly called to order ; but under the extraordinary cir- 
cumstances of the President having, with, I have no doubt, the best 
motives, volunteered his opinion on this head, and inverted the order 
of legislation by beginning where it should end, I am compelled, most 
reluctantly, to refer to that opinion. I cannot but deprecate the 
practice of which the President has, in this instance, set the example 
to his successors. The constitutional order of legislation supposes 
that every bill originating in one House, shall be there deliberately 
investigated, without influence from* any other branch of the legisla- 
ture ; and then remitted to the other house for a like free and unbiased 
consideration. Having passed both houses, it is to be laid before the 
President ; signed if approved, and if disapproved, to be returned, with 
his objections, to the originating house. In this manner, entire free- 
dom of thought and of action is secured, and the President finally sees 
the proposition in the most matured form which Congress can give to 
it. The practical effect, to say no more, of forestalling the legislative 
opinion, and telling us what we may or may not do, will be to deprive 
the President himself of the opportunity of considering a proposition so 
matured, and us of the benefit of his reasoning applied specifically to 
such proposition. For the constitution further enjoins it upon him 
to state his objections upon returning the bill. The originating house 
is then to re-consider it, and deliberately to weigh those objections ; 
and it is further required, when the question is again taken, shall the 
bill pass, those objections notwithstanding ? that the votes shall be 
solemnly spread, by ayes and noes, upon the record. Of this oppor- 
tunity of thus recording our opinions, in matters of great public con- 
cern, we are deprived, if we submit to the innovation of the Presi- 
dent. I will not press this part of the subject further. I repeat, 
again and again, that I have no doubt but that the President was ac- 
tuated by the purest motives. I am compelled, however, in the ex- 
ercise of that freedom of opinion "which, so long as I exist I will 
maintain, to say that the proceeding is irregular and unconstitutional. 
Let us, however, examine the reasoning and opinion of the Presi- 
dent. 



ON TNTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 73 

,: A different of opinion has existed from tin* first formation of our constitution 
to the present time, amon^ our most enlightened and virtuous citizens, respecting the 
right of Congress to establish a system of internal improvement. Taking into view 
the trust with which I am now honored, it would be improper, after what has 
passed, that this discussion should be revived, with an uncertainty of my opinion 
respecting the right. Disregarding earlv impressions, I have bestowed on the subject 
all the deliberation which its great importance and a just sense of my duty required, 
and the result is, a settled conviction in my mind that Congress does not possess the 
right. It is not contained in any of the specified powers granted to Congress ; nor 
can I consider it incidental to, or a necessary mean, viewed on the most liberal 
scale, for carrying into effect any of the powers which are specifically granted. In 
communicating tins result, I cannot resist the obligation which I feel, to suggest to 
Congress the propriety of recommending to the States the adoption of an amendment 
to the constitution, which shall give the right in question. In cases of doubtful 
construction, especially of such vital interest, it comports with the nature and origin 
of our institutions, and will contribute much to preserve them, to apply to our con- 
stituents, for an explicit grant of power. We may confidently r^ly, thar, if it appears 
to their satisfaction that the power is necessary, it will always be granted." 

In this passage the President has furnished us with no reasoning, 
no argument in support of his opinion — nothing addressed to the un- 
derstanding. He gives us, indeed, an historical account of the ope- 
rations of his own mind, and he asserts that he has made a laborious 
effort to conquer his early impressions, but that the result is a settled 
conviction against the power, without a single reason. In his posi 
lion, that the power must be specifically granted, or incident to a 
power so granted, it has been seen that I have the honor to entirely 
concur with him ; but, he says the power is not among the specified 
powers. Has he taken into consideration the clause respecting post- 
roads, and told us how and why that does not convey the power ? If 
he had acted within what I conceive to be his constitutional sphere 
of rejecting the bill, after it had passed both houses, he must have 
learned that great stress was placed on that clause, and we should 
have been enlightened by his comments upon it. As to his denial of 
the power, as an incident to any of the express grants, I would have 
thought that we might have safely appealed to the experience of the 
President, during the late war, when the country derived so much 
benefit from his judicious administration of the duties of the war de- 
partment, whether roads and canals for military purposes were not 
essential to celerity and successful result in the operations of armies* 
This part of the message is all assertion, and^contains no argmnent 
which I can comprehend, or which meet the points contended for 
during this debate. Allow me here to say, and I do it without the 
least disrespect to that branch of the government, on whose opinions 
and acts it has been rendered my painful duty to comment ; let me 
say, in reference to any man, however elevated his station, even if he 
be endowed with the power and prerogatives of a sovereign, that his 
acts are worth infinitely more, and are more intelligible, than mere 



74 8PEXCHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

paper sentiments or declarations. And what have been the acts of 
the President ? During his tour of the last summer, did he not order 
a road to be cut or repaired from near Plattsburgh to the St. Law- 
rence ? My honorable friend will excuse me, if my comprehension 
is too dull to perceive the force of that argument which seeks to draw . 
a distinction between repairing an old and making a new road. 

[Mr. Nel6on said he had not drawn that distinction, having only stated the fact. ■ 

Certainly no such distinction is to be found in the constitution or 
exists in reason. Grant, however, the power of reparation, and we 
will make it do. We will take the post-roads, sinuous as they are, 
and put them in a condition to enable the mails to pass, without those 
moitifying delays and disappointments, to which we, at least in the 
west, are so often liable. The President, then, ordered a road of con 
siderable extent to be constructed or repaired, on his sole authority, in 
a time of profound peace, when no enemy threatened the country, and 
when, in relation to the power as to which alone that road could be use- 
ful in time of war, there exists the best understanding, and a prospect 
of lasting friendship, greater than at any other period. On his sole 
authority the President acted, and we are already called upon by the 
chairman of the committee of ways and means to sanction the act by 
an appropriation. This measure has been taken, too, without the 
consent of the State of New York ; and what is wonderful, when we 
consider the magnitude of the State rights which are said to be vio- 
lated, without even a protest on the part of that State against it. On 
the contrary, I understand, from some of the military officers who are 
charged with the execution of the work, what is very extraordinary, 
that the people through whose quarter of the country the road pass- 
es, do not view it as a national calamity ; that they would be very- 
glad that the President would visit them often, and that he would 
order a road to be cut and improved, at the national expense, every 
time he should visit them. Other roads, in other parts of the Union, 
have, it seems, been likewise ordered, or their execution, at the pub- 
lic expense, sanctioned by the executive, without the concurrence of 
Congress. If the President has the power to cause these public im- 
provements to be executed at his pleasure, whence is it derived ? If 
any member will stand up in this place and say the President is clothed 
with this authority, and that it is denied to Congress, let us hear from 
him ; and let him point to the clause of the constitution which vest* 
it in th« executive and withholds it from the legislative branch 



ON INTERNAL IMriiOVEMENT. 75 

There is no such clause; there is no such exclusive executive 
power. The power is derivable by the executive only from those 
provisions of the constitution Avhich charge him with the duties of 
commanding the physical force of the country, and the employment 
of that force in war, and the preservation of the public tranquillity, and 
in the execution of the laws. But Congress has paramount power 
to the President. It alone can declare war, can raise armies, can 
provide for calling out the militia, in the specified instances, and can 
raise and appropriate the ways and means necessary to those objects. 
Or is it come to this, that there are to be two rules of construction 
for the constitution— one, an enlarged rule, for the Executive, and 
another, a restricted rule", for the legislature ? Is it already to be 
held, that, according to the genius and nature of our constitution, 
powers of this kind may be safely intrusted to the Executive, but 
when attempted to be exercised by the legislature, are so alarming 
and dangerous, that a war with all the allied powers would be less 
terrible, and that the nation should clothe itself straightway in sack- 
cloth and ashes ! No, sir, if the power belongs only by implication 
to the Chief Magistrate, it is placed both by implication and express 
grant in the hands of Congress. I am so far from condemning the 
act of the President, to which I have referred, that I think it deserv- 
ing of high approbation. That it was within the scope of his consti- 
tutional authority I have no doubt ; and I sincerely trust that the 
Secretary at War will, in time of peace, constantly employ in that 
way the military force. It will at the same time guard that force 
against the vices incident to indolence and inaction, and correct the 
evil of subtracting from the mass of the labor of society, where la- 
bor is more valuable than in any other country, that portion of it 
which enters into the composition of the army. But I most solemnly 
protest against any exercise of powers of this kind by the President, 
which are denied to Congress. And, if the opinions expressed by 
him, in his message, were communicated, or are to be used here, to 
influence the judgment of the House, their authority is more than 
countervailed by the authority of Ids deliberate acts. 

Some principles drawn from political economists have been al- 
luded to, and we are advised to leave things to themselves, upon the 
ground that, when the condition of society is ripe for internal im- 
provements — that is, when capital can be so invested with a fair 
prospect of adequate remuneration, they will be executed by associa- 



76 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

tions of individuals, unaided by government. With my friend front 
South Carolina (Mr. Lowndes) I concur in this as a general maxim , 
and I also concur with him that there are exceptions to it. The for- 
eign policy which I think this country ought to adopt, presents one of 
those exceptions. It would perhaps be better for mankind, if, in the 
intercourse between nations, all would leave skill and industry to 
their unstimulated exertions. But this is not done ; and if other 
powers will incite the industry of their subjects, and depress that of 
our citizens, in instances where they may come into competition, we 
must imitate their selfish example. Hence the necessity to protect 
our manufactures. In regard to internal improvements, it does not 
follow that they will always be constructed "whenever they will afford 
a competent dividend upon the capital invested. It may be true gen- 
erally that, in old countries, where there is a great accumulation of sur- 
plus capital, and a consequent low rate of interest, they will be made. 
But, in a new country, the condition of society may be ripe for pub- 
lic works long before there is, in the hands of individuals, the neces- 
sary accumulation of capital to effect them ; and, besides, there is 
generally, in such a country, not only a scarcity of capital, but such 
a multiplicity of profitable objects presenting themselves as to distract 
the judgment. Further — the aggregate benefit resulting to the whole 
society, from a public improvement, may be such as to amply justify 
the investment of capital in its execution, and yet that benefit may 
be so distributed among different and distant persons, that they can 
never be got to act in concert. The turnpike roads wanted to pass 
the Allegany mountains, and the Delaware and Chesapeake canal, are 
objects of this description. Those who will be most benefited by these 
improvements, reside at a considerable distance from the sites of them ; 
many of those persons never have seen and never will see them. 
How is it possible to regulate the contributions, or to present to indi- 
viduals so situated a sufficiently lively picture of their real interests, 
to get them to make exertions in effectuating the object, commensu- 
rate with their respective abilities ? I think it very possible that the 
capitalist, who should invest his money in one of these objects, might 
not be reimbursed three per centum annually upon it ; and yet socie- 
ty, in various forms, might actually reap fifteeen or twenty per cen- 
tum. The benefit resulting from a turnpike road, made by private 
associations, is divided between the capitalist who receives his tolls, 
the lands through which it passes, and which are augmented in their 
value, and the commodities whose value is enhanced by the dimin- 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 7f 

isned expense of transportation. A combination, upon any terms, 
■nuch less a just combination, of all those interests, to effect the 
improvement, is impracticable. And if you await the arrival of the 
period when the tolls alone can produce a competent dividend, it is 
evident that you will have to suspend its execution long after the 
general interests of society would have authorized it. 

Again, improvements, made by private associations are generally 
made by local capital. But ages must elapse before there will be 
concentrated in certain places, where the interests of the whole com- 
munity may call for improvements, sufficient capital to make them. 
The place of the improvement, too, is not always the most interested 
in its accomplishment. Other parts of the Union — the whole line of 
the seaboard — are quite as much, if not more interested in the Dela- 
ware and Chesapeake canal, as the small tract of country through 
which it is proposed to pass. The same observation will apply to 
turnpike roads passing through the Allegany mountain. Sometimes 
the interest of the place of the improvement is adverse to the im- 
provement and to the general interest. I would cite Louisville, at 
the rapids of the Ohio, as an example, whose interest will probably 
be more promoted by the continuance, than the removal of the ob- 
struction. Of all the modes in which a government can employ its 
surplus revenue, none is more permanently beneficial than that of in- 
ternal improvement. Fixed to the soil, it becomes a durable part of 
the land itself, diffusing comfort, and activity, and animation on all 
sides. The first direct effect is on the agricultural community, 
into whose pockets comes the difference in the expense of transporta- 
tion between good and bad ways. Thus, if the price of transporting 
a barrel of flour by the erection of the Cumberland turnpike should 
be lessened two dollars, the producer of the article would receive that 
two dollars more now than formerly. 

But, putting aside all pecuniary considerations, there may be polit- 
ical motives sufficiently powerful alone to justify certain internal im- 
provements. Does not our country present such ? How are they 
to be effected if things are left to themselves ? I will not press the 
subject further. I am but too sensible how much I have abused the 
patience of the committee by trespassing so long upon its attention. 
The magnitude of the question, and the deep interest I feel in its 
rightful decision, must be my apology. We are now making the 

35 



78 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

last effort to establish our power, and I call on the friends of Congress, 
of this House, or the true friends of State rights, (not charging others 
with intending to oppose them,) to rally round the constitution, and to 
support by their votes on this occasion, the legitimate powers of the 
legislature. If we do nothing this session but pass an abstract reso- 
lution on the subject, I shall, under all circumstances, consider it 
a triumph for the best interests of the country, of which posterity 
will, if we do not, reap the benefit. I trust, that by the decision 
which shall be given, we shall assert, uphold, and maintain, the au- 
thority of Congress, notwithstanding all that has been or may be said 
against it. 

[The resolution of giving the power of Congress 1. to appropriate money to the 
constrnction of Military and Post Roads, make canals, and improve water courses, 
was adopted: Yeas 90; Nays 75: 2. to construct such roads: lost: Yeas 82; Nays 
St: 3. to construct roads and canals for commercial purposes: lost: Yeas 71 ; Naya 
95 : 4- to construct canals for Military purposes : lost : 81 to 83.] 






ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

In the House of Representatives, March 24, 1818. 



[The several Provinces, or Countries, of South America, having been enabled to 
shake off the yoke of servitude to Spain and Portugal during the long and despe- 
rate wars by Napoleon against the nations of the Peninsula, and having gallantly 
maintained their independence by vanquishing the armies sent against them after 
the fall of Bonaparlfe, the friends of liberty in this hemisphere believed that the 
time had now come when the eldest and most powerful of the American Republics 
might fitly and justly tafce the lead in acknowledging that independence, in the face 
of hostile Europe, and in defiance of the ' Divine Right' of Kings to rule. According- 
ly, when the ' Bill providing for the Civil and Diplomatic Expenditures' of 1818 
came before the House, in Committee, Mr. Clay moved to insert an item of $18,- 
000 for the salary and outfit of a Minister to Brazil — as the oldest and most stable 
of the independent governments of South America — which motion he supported in 
the following Speech :] 

I rise under feelings of deeper regret than I have ever experienced 
on any former occasion, inspired, principally, by the painful con- 
sideration, that I find myself, on the proposition which I meant to 
6ubmit, differing from many highly esteemed friends, in and out of 
this House, for whose judgment I entertained the greatest respect. 
A. knowledge of this circumstance has induced me to pause ; to sub- 
ject my own convictions to the severest scrutiny, and to revolve the 
question over and over again. But all my reflections have conducted 
me to the same clear result ; and much as I value those friends — 
great as my deference is for their opinions — I cannot hesitate, when 
reduced to the distressing alternative of conforming my judgment to 
theirs, or pursuing the deliberate and mature dictates of my own 
mind. I enjoy some consolation, for the want of their co-operation, 
from the persuasion that, if I err on this occasion, I err on the 
side of the liberty and happiness of a large portion of the human 
family. Another, and, if possible, indeed, a greater source of the 
regret to which I refer, is the utter incompetency, which I unfeign- 



80 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

edly feel, to do any thing like adequate justice to the great cause of 
American independence and freedom, whose interests I wish to pro- 
mote by my humble exertions in this instance. Exhausted and worn 
down as I am, by the fatigue, confinement, and incessant application 
incident to the arduous duties of the honorable station I hold, during 
a four months' session, I shall need all that kind indulgence which 
has been so often extended to me by the House. 

I beg, in the first place, to correct misconceptions, if any exist, in 
regard to my opinions. I am averse from war with Spain, or with 
any power. I would give no just cause of war to any power — not 
to Spain herself. I have seen enough of war, and of its calamities, 
even when successful. No country upon earth has more interest 
than this in cultivating peace and avoiding war, as iong as it is possi- 
ble honorably to avoid it. Gaining additional strength every day ; 
our numbers doubling in periods of twenty-five years ; with an in- 
come outstripping all our estimates, and so great, as, after a war in 
some respects disastrous, to furnish results which carry astonishment, 
if not dismay, into the bosom of states jealous of our rising import- 
ance, — we have every motive for the love of peace. I cannot, how- 
ever, approve, in all respects, of the manner in which our negotiations 
with Spain have been conducted. If ever a favorable time existed 
for the demand, on the part of an injured nation, of indemnity for past 
wrongs from the aggressor, such is the present time. Impoverish- 
ed and exhausted at home, by the wars which have desolated the 
peninsula ; Avith a foreign war, calling for infinitely more resources, 
in men and money, than she can possibly command, this is the auspi- 
cious period for insisting upon justice at her hands, in a firm and de- 
cided tone. Time is precisely what Spain now most wants. Yet 
what are we told by the President in his message at the commence- 
ment of Congress? That Spain had procrastinated, and we acqui- 
esced in her procrastination. And the Secretary of State, in a late 
communication with Mr. Onis, after ably vindicating all our rights, 
tells the Spanish minister, with a good deal of sang froid, that we had 
patiently waited thirteen years for a redress of our injuries, and that 
it required no great effort to wait longer ! I would have abstained 
from thus exposing our intentions. Avoiding the use of the language 
of menace, I would have required, in temperate and decided terms, 
indemnity for all our wrongs ; for the spoliations of our commerce ; 
hi the interruption of the right of depot at New Orleans, guarantied 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 31 

by treaty ; for the insults repeatedly offered to our flag ; for the In- 
dian hostilities, which she was bound to prevent ; for belligerent use 
made of her ports and territories by our enemy during the late war ; 
and the instantaneous liberation of the free citizens of the United 
States now imprisoned in her jails. Contemporaneous with that 
demand, without waiting for her final answer, and with a view to the 
favorable operation on her councils in regard to our own peculiar in 
terests, as well as in justice to the cause itself, I would recognise 
any established government in Spanish America. I would have left 
Spain to draw her own inferences from these proceedings, as to the 
ultimate step which this country might adopt, if she longer withheld 
justice from us. And if she persevered in her iniquity, after we have 
conducted the negotiation in the manner I have endeavored to de- 
scribe, I would then take up and decide the solemn question of peace 
or war, with the advantage of all the light shed upon it by subse- 
quent events, and the probable conduct of Europe. 

Spain has undoubtedly given us abundant and just cause of war. 
But it is not every cause of war that should lead to war. War is one 
of those dreadful scourges that so shakes the foundations of society, 
overturns or changes the character of governments, interrupts or de- 
stroys the pursuits of private happiness, brings, in short, misery and 
wretchedness in so many forms, and at last is, in its issue, so doubt- 
ful and hazardous, that nothing but dire necessity can justify an appeal 
to arms. If we are to have war with Spain, I have, however, no 
hesitation in saying, that no mode of bringing it about could be less 
fortunate than that of seizing, at this time, upon her adjoining pro- 
vince. There was a time, under certain circumstances, when we 
might have occupied East Florida with safety ; had we then taken 
it, our posture in the negotiation with Spain would have been totally 
different from what it is. But we have permitted that time, not with 
my consent, to pass by unimproved. If we were now to seize upon 
Florida, after a great change in those circumstances, and after de- 
claring our intention to acquiesce in the procrastination desired by 
Spain, in what light should we be viewed by foreign powers, particu- 
larly Great Britain ? We have already been accused of inordinate 
ambition, and of seeking to aggrandize ourselves by an extension, on 
all sides, of our limits. Should we not, by such an act of violence, 
give color to the accusation ? No, Mr. Chairman, if we are to be 
involved in a war with Spain, let us have the credit of disinterested- 



82 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ness. Let us put her yet more in the wrong. Let us command the 
respect which is never withheld from those who act a noble and 
generous part. I hope to communicate to the committee the convic- 
tion which I so strongly feel, that the adoption of the amendment 
which I intend to propose, would not hazard, in the slightest degree, 
the peace of the country. But if that peace is to be endangered, I 
would infinitely rather it should be for our exerting the right apper 
taining to every state, of acknowledging the independence of anothei 
state, than for the seizure of a province which, sooner or later, we 
must certainly acquire. 

In contemplating the great struggle in which Spanish America is 
now engaged, our attention is first fixed by the immensity and char- 
acter of the country which Spain seeks again to subjugate. Stretch- 
ins on the Pacific Ocean from about the fortieth decree of north lati- 
tude to about the fifty-fifth degree of south latitude, and extending 
from the mouth of the Rio del Norte, (exclusive of East Florida,) 
around the Gulf of Mexico, and along the South Atlantic to near 
Cape Horn ; it is about five thousand miles in length, and in some 
places near three thousand in breadth. Within this vast region we 
behold the most sublime and interesting objects of creation ; the lofti- 
est mountains, the most majestic rivers in the world ; the richest 
mines of the precious metals, and the choicest productions of the 
earth. We behold there a spectacle still more interesting and sub- 
lime — the glorious spectacle of eighteen millions of people, struggling 
to burst their chains and to be free. When we take a little nearer 
and more detailed view, we perceive that nature has, as it were, or- 
dained that this people and this country shall ultimately constitute 
several different nations. Leaving the United States on the north, 
we come to New Spain, or the vice-royalty of Mexico on the south ; 
passing by Guatemala, we reach the vice-royalty of New Granada, 
the late captain-generalship of Venezuela, and Guiana, lying on the 
east side of the Andes. Stepping over the Brazils, we arrive at the 
united provinces of La Plata, and crossing the Andes, we find Chili 
on their west side, and, further north, the vice-royalty of Lima, or 
Peru. Each of these several parts is sufficient in itself, in point ot 
limits, to constitute a powerful state ; and, in point of population, 
that which has the smallest, contains enough to make it respectable 
Throughout all the extent of that great portion of the world, which 
3 have attempted thus hastily to describe, the spirit of revolt aga>nst 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 83 

the dominion of Spain has manifested itself. The revolution has been 
attended with various degrees of success in the several parts of Span- 
ish America. In soma it has been already crowned, as I shall en- 
deavor to show, with complete success, and in all I am persuaded 
that independence has struck such deep root that the power of Spain 
can never eradicate it. What are the causes of this great move- 
ment ? 

Three hundred years ago, upon the ruins of the thrones of Mon- 
tezuma and the Incas of Peru, Spain erected the most stupendous 
system of colonial despotism that the world has ever seen — the most 
vigorous, the most exclusive. The great principle and object of this 
system, has been to render one of the largest portions of the world 
exclusively subservient, in all its faculties, to the interests of an in- 
considerable spot in Europe. To effectuate this aim of her policy, 
she locked up Spanish America from all the rest of the world, and 
prohibited, under the severest penalties, any foreigner from entering 
any part of it. To keep the natives themselves ignorant of each 
other, and of the strength and resources of the several parts of her 
American possessions, she next prohibited the inhabitants of one vice- 
royalty or government from visiting those of another ; so that the 
inhabitants of Mexico, for example, were not allowed to enter the 
vice-royalty of New Granada. The agriculture of those vast regions 
was so regulated and restrained as to prevent all collision with the 
agriculture, of the peninsula. Where nature, by the character and 
composition of the soil, had commanded, the abominable system of 
Spain has forbidden, the growth of certain articles. Thus the olive 
and the vine, to which Spanish America is so well adapted, are pro- 
hibited, wherever their culture can interfere with the olive and the 
vine of the peninsula. The commerce of the country, in the direc- 
tion and objects of the exports and imports, is also subjected to tbe 
narrow and selfish views of Spain — and fettered by the odious spirit 
of monopoly existing in Cadiz. She has sought, by scattering dis- 
cord among the several castes of her American population, and by a 
debasing course of education, to perpetuate her oppression. What- 
ever concerns public law, or the science of government, all writers 
upon political economy, or that tend to give vigor, and freedom, and 
expansion to the intellect, are prohibited. Gentleman would be 
astonished by the long list of distinguished authors, whom she pro- 
scribes, to be found in Depon's and other works. A main feature in 



84 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

her policy, is that which constantly elevates the European and de- 
presses the American character. Out of upwards of seven hundred 
and fifty viceroys and captains general, whom she has appointed since 
the conquest of America, about eighteen only have been from the 
body of the American population. On all occasions, she seeks to 
raise and promote her European subjects, and to degrade and humili- 
ate the Creoles. Wherever in America her sway extends, every 
thing seems to pine and wither beneath its baneful influence. The 
richest regions of the earth ; man, his happiness and his education, 
all the fine faculties of his soul, aie regulated, and modified, and 
moulded to suit the execrable purposes of an inexorable despotism. 

Such is a brief and imperfect picture of the state of things in 
Spanish America in 1808, when the famous transactions of TJayonne 
occurred. The King of Spain and the Indies (for Spanish America 
has always constituted an integral part of the Spanish empire) abdi- 
cated his throne and became a voluntary captive. Even at this day, 
one does not know whether he should most condemn the baseness 
and perfidy of the one party, or despise the meanness and imbecility 
of the other. If the obligation of obedience and allegiance existed 
on the part of the colonies to the king of Spain, it was founded on 
the duty of protection which he owed them. By disqualifying him- 
self for the performance of this duty, they became released from that 
obligation. The monarchy was dissolved ; and each integral part 
had a right to seek its own happiness, by the institution of any new 
government adapted to its wants. Joseph Bonaparte, the successor 
de facto of Ferdinand, recognised this right on the part of the colo- 
nies, and recommended them to establish their independence. Thus, 
upon the ground of strict right ; upon the footing of a mere legal 
question, governed by forensic rules, the colonies, being absolved by 
the acts of the parent country from the duty of subjection to it, had 
an indisputable right to set up for themselves. But I take a broader 
and a bolder position. I maintain, that an oppressed people are 
, authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters. This 
was the great principle of the English revolution. It was the great 
principle of our own. Vattel, if authority were wanting, expressly 
supports this right. We must pass sentence of condemnation upon 
the founders of our liberty — say that they Avere rebels — traitors, and 
that we are at this moment legislating without competent powers, be- 
fore we can condemn the cause of Spanish America. Our revolution 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 86 

was mainly directed against the mere theory of tyranny. We had suf- 
fered comparatively but little; we had, in some respects, been kindly 
treated* but our intrepid and intelligent fathers saw, in the usurpation 
of the power to levy an inconsiderable tax, the long train of oppres- 
sive acts that were to follow. They rose ; they breasted the storm ; 
they achieved our freedom. Spanish America for centuries has been 
doomed to the practical effects of an odious tyranny. If we were 
justified, she is more than justified. 

I am no propagandist. I would not seek to force upon other nations 
our principles and our liberty, if they do not want them. I would 
not disturb the repose even of a detestable despotism. But, if an 
abused and oppressed people will their freedom ; if they seek to es- 
tablish it ; if, in truth, they have established it, we have a right, as 
a sovereign power, to notice the fact, and to act as circumstances and 
our interest require. I will say, in the language of the venerated 
father of my country : " Born in a land of liberty,my anxious recol- 
lections, my sympathetic feelings, and my best wishes, are irresistibly 
excited, whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl 
the banners of freedom." Whenever I think of Spanish America, 
the image irresistibly forces itself upon my mind of an elder brother, 
whose education has been neglected, whose person has been abused 
and maltreated, and who has been disinherited by the unkindness of 
an unnatural parent. And, when I contemplate the glorious struggle 
which that country is now making, I think I behold that brother ri- 
sing, by the power and energy of his fine native genius, to the manly 
rank which nature, and nature's God, intended for him. 

If Spanish America be entitled to success from the justness of her 
cause, we have no less reason to wish that success from the horrible 
character which the royal arms have given to the war. More atroci- 
ties than those which have been perpetrated during its existence, are 
not to be found even in the annals of Spain herself. And history, 
reserving some of her blackest pages for the name of Morillo, is pre- 
pared to place him by the side of his great prototype, the infamous 
desolater of the Netherlands. He who has looked into the history 
of the conduct of this war, is constantly shocked at the revolting 
scenes which it portrays ; at the refusal, on the part of the command- 
ers of the royal forces, to treat, on any terms, with the other side ; 
at the denial of quarters ; at the butchery, in cold blood, of prisoners ; 

36 



86 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

at the violation of flags, in some cases, after being received with re- 
ligious ceremonies ; at the instigation of slaves to rise against their 
owners ; and at acts of wanton and useless barbarity. Neither the 
weakness of the other sex, nor the imbecility of old age, nor the inno- 
cence of infants, nor the reverence due to the sacerdotal character, 
can stay the arm of royal vengeance. On this subject I beg leave to 
trouble the committee with reading a few passages from a most authen- 
tic document, the manifesto of the Congress of the United Provinces 
of Rio de la Plata, published in October last. This is a paper of the 
highest authority ; it is an appeal to the world ; it asserts facts of no- 
toriety in the face of the whole world. It is not to be credited that 
the Congress would come foward with a statement which was not 
true, when the means, if it were fabe, of exposing their fabrications, 
must be so abundant, and so easy to command. It is a document, in 
short, that stands upon the same footing of authority with our own 
papers, promulgated during the Revolution by our Congress. I will 
add, that many of the facts which it affirms are corroborated by most 
respectable historical testimony, which is in my own possession. 

" Memory shudders at the recital of the horrors that were committed by Goyeneche 
in Cochabamba. Would to heaven it were possible to blot from remembrance the 
name of that ungrateful and blood-thirstv American ; who, on the day of his entry, 
ordered the virtuous Governor and Intendant, Antesana, to be shot ; who, beholding 
from the balcony of his house that infamous murder, cried out with a ferocious voice 
to the soldiers, that they must not fire at the head, because he wanted it to be affix- 
ed to a pole ; and who, after the head was taken off, ordered the cold corpse to be 
dragged through the streets ; and, by a barbarous decree, placed the lives and for- 
tunes of the citizens at the mercy of his unbridled soldiery, leaving them to exercise 
their licentious and brutal sway during several days ! But those blind and cruelly 
capricious men (the Spaniards) rejected the mediation of England, and despatched 
rigorous orders to all the generals, to aggravate the war, and to punish us with more 
severity. The scaffolds were everywhere multiplied, and invention was racked to 
devise means for spreading murder, distress, and consternation. 

" Thenceforth they made all possible efforts to spread division amongst us, to in- 
cite us to mutual extermination; they have slandered us with the most atrocious 
calumnies, accusing us of plotting the destruction of our holy religion, the abolition 
of all morality, and of introducing licentiousness of manners. Thev wage a reli- 
gious war against us, contriving a thousand artifices to disturb and alarm the con- 
sciences of the people, making the Spanish bishops issue decrees of ecclesiastical 
condemnation, public excommunications, and disseminating, through the medium of 
some ignorant confessor, fanatical doctrines in the tribunal of penitence. By means 
of these religious discords they have divided families against themselves; they have 
caused disaffection between parents and children ; they have dissolved the tender ties 
which unite man and wife ; they have spread rancor and implacable hatred between 
brothers most endeared, and they have presumed to throw all nature into discord 

" They have adopted the system of murdering men indiscriminately, to diminish 
our numbers ; and, on their entry into towns, they have swept off all, even the mar- 
ket people, leading them to the open squares, and there shooting them one by one. 
The cities of Chuquisaca and Cochabamba have more than once been the theatres 
of these horrid slaughters. 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 87 

" They have intermixed with their troops soldiers of ours whom they had taken 
prisoners, carrying away the officers in chains, to garrisons where it is impossible to 
preserve health for a year— they have left others to die in their prisons oi' hunger and 
misery, and others they have forced to hard labor on the public works. They have 
exult ingly put to death our bearers of Hags of truce, and have been guilty of the 
blackest atrocities to our chiefs, after they had surrendered ; as well as to other 
principal characters, in disregard of the humanity with which we treated prisoners ; 
as a proof of it, witness the deputy Mutes of Potosi, the captain-general Pumaca- 
gua, General Augulo, and his brother commandant Munecas and other partisan 
chiefs, who were shot in cold blood, after having been prisoners for several days. 

** They took a brutal pleasure in cropping the ears of the natives of the town of 
Ville-grande, and sending a basket full of them as presents to the head-quarters. They 
afterwards burnt that town, and set lire to thirty other populous towns of Peru, and 
worse than the worst of savages, shutting the inhabitants up in the houses before 
setting them on fire, that they might be burnt alive. 

" They have not only been cruel and unsparing in their mode of murder, but they 
have been void of all morality and public decency, causing aged ecclesiastics and 
women to be lashed to a gun, and publicly flogged, with the abomination of first 
having them stripped, and their nakedness exposed to shame, in the presence of 
their troops 

" They established an inquisitorial system in all these punishments ; they have seiz- 
ed on peaceable inhabitants, and transported them across the sea, to be judged for sus- 
pected crimes, and they have put a great number of citizens to death everywhere, 
without accusation or the form of a trial. 

" They have invented a crime of unexampled horror, in poisoning our water and 
provisions, when they were conquered by General Pineto at La Paz ; and in return 
for the kindness with which we treated them, after they had surrendered at discre- 
tion, they had the barbarity to blow up the head-quarters, under which they had 
constructed a mine, and prepared a train beforehand. 

"• He has branded us with the stigma of rebels^the moment he returned to Madrid ; 
he refused to listen to our complaints, or to receive our supplications ; and as an act 
of extreme favor, he offered us pardon. He confirmed the viceroys, governors, and 
generals whom he found actually glutted with carnage. He declared us guilty of a 
high misdemeanor for having dared to frame a constitution for our own government, 
free from the control of a deified, absolute, and tyrannical power, under which we 
had groaned three centuries ; a measure that could be offensive only to a prince, an 
enemy to justice and beneficence, and consequently unworthy to rule over us. 

" He then undertook, with the aid of his ministers, to equip large military arma- 
ments, to be directed against us. He caused numerous armies to be sent out, to con- 
summate the work of devastation, tire, and plunder. 

" He has sent his generals, with certain decrees of pardon, which they publish to 
deceive the ignorant, and induce them to facilitate their entrance into towns, whilst 
at the same time he has given them other secret instructions, authorizing them, as 
soon as they could get possession of a place, to hang, burn, confiscate, and sack ; to 
encourage private assassinations— and to commit every species of injury in their 
power, against the deluded beings who had confided in his pretended pardon. It is 
in the name of Ferdinand of Bourbon that the heads of patriot officers, prisoners, are 
tixed up in the highways, that they beat and stoned to death a commandant of light 
troops, and that, after having killed Colonel Camugo, in the same manner by the 
hands of the indecent Centeno, they cut off his head and sent it as a present to Gen- 
eral Pazuela, telling him it was a miracle of the virgin of the Carmelites." 

In the establishment of the independence of Spanish America, the 
United States have the deepest interest. I have no hesitation in as- 
serting my firm belief, that there is no question in the foreign policy 



88 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

of this country, which has ever arisen, or which I can conceive as evei 
occurring, in the decision of which we have had or can have so much 
at stake. This interest concerns our politics, our commerce, our nav- 
igation. There cannot be a doubt that Spanish America, once inde- 
pendent, whatever may be the form of the governments established 
in its several parts, these governments will be animated by an Ameri- 
can feeling, and guided by an American policy. They will obey 
the laws of the system of the New World, of which they will 
compose a part, in contradistinction to that of Europe. Without the 
influence of that vortex in Europe, the balance of power between its 
several parts, the preservation of which has so often drenched Europe 
in blood, America is sufficiently remote to contemplate the new wars 
which are to afflict that quarter of the globe, as a calm, if not a cold 
and indifferent spectator. In relation to those wars, the several parts 
of America will generally stand neutral. And as, during the period 
when they rage, it will be important that a liberal system of neutral- 
ity should be adopted and observed, all America will be interested in 
maintaining and enforcing such a system. The independence then of 
Spanish America is an interest of primary consideration. Next 
to that, and highly important in itself, is the consideration of the na- 
ture of their governments. That is a question, however, for them- 
selves. They will, no doubt, adopt those kinds of governments which 
are best suited to their condition, best calculated for their happiness. 
Anxious as I am that they should be free governments, we have no 
right to prescribe for them. They are and ought to be the sole 
judges for themselves. I am strongly inclined to believe that they 
will in most, if not all parts of their country, establish free govern- 
ments. We are their great example. Of us they constantly speak 
as of brothers, having a similar origin. They adopt our principles, 
copy our institutions, and, in many instances, employ the very lan- 
guage and sentiments of our revolutionary papers. 

" Having then been thus impelled by the Spaniards and their king, we have cal- 
culated all the consequences, and have constituted ourselves independent, prepared 
to exercise the right of nature to defend ourselves against the ravages of tyranny, at 
the risk of our honor, our lives and fortune. We have sworn to the only King we 
acknowledge, the supreme Judge of the world, that we will not abandon the cause 
of justice ; that we will not suffer the country which he has given us to be buried in 
ruins, and inundated with blood, by the hands of the executioner," &c. 

But it is sometimes said that they are too ignorant and too super- 
stitious to admit of the existence of free government. This charge 
of ignorance is often urged by persons themselves actually ignorant of 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 89 

the real condition of that people . I deny the alleged fact of ignorance ; 
I deny the inference from that fact, if it were true, that they want 
capacity for free government ; and I refuse assent to the further con- 
clusion, if the fact were true, and the inference just, that we are to 
he indifferent to their fate. All the writers of the most established 
authority, Depons, Humboldt, and others, concur in assigning to the 
people of Spanish America, great quickness, genius, and particular 
aptitude for the acquisition of the exact sciences, and others which 
they have been allowed to cultivate. In astronmy, geology, miner- 
alogy, chemistry, botany, &c, they are allowed to make distinguish- 
ed proficiency. They justly boast of their Abzate, Velasques, 
and Gama, and other illustrious contributors to science. They have 
nine universities, and in the city of Mexico, it is affirmed by Hum- 
boldt, that there are more solid scientific establishments than in any 
^ity even of North America. I would refer to the message of the 
supreme director of La Plata, which I shall hereafter have occasion 
to use for another purpose, as a model of fine composition of a state 
paper, challenging a comparison with any, the most celebrated that 
ever issued from the pens of Jefferson or Madison. Gentlemen will 
egregiously err if they form their opinions of the present moral con- 
dition of Spanish America, from what it was under the debasing sys- 
tem of Spain. The eight years' revolution in which it has been en- 
gaged, has already produced a powerful effect. Education has been 
attended to, and genius developed. 

" As soon as the project of the revolution arose on the shores of La Plata, genius 
and talent exhibited their influence ; the capacity of the people became manifest, 
and the means of acquiring knowledge were soon made the favorite pursuit of the 
youth. As far as the wants or the inevitable interruption of affairs has allowed, 
every thing has been done to disseminate useful information. The liberty of the 
press has indeed met with some occasional checks ; but in Buenos Ayres alone as 
many periodical works weekly issue from the press as in Spain and Portugal put 
together." 

The fact is not therefore true that the imputed ignorance exists ; 
but, if it do, I repeat, I dispute the inference. It is the doctrine of 
thrones, that man is too ignorant to govern himself. Their partizans 
assert his incapacity in reference to all nations ; if they cannot com- 
mand universal assent to the proposition, it is then demanded as to 
particular nations ; and our pride and our presumption too often make 
converts of us. I contend that it is to arraign the dispositions of 
Providence himself, to suppose that he has created beings incapable 
of governing themselves, and to be trampled on by kings. Self-gov- 



90 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ernment is the natural government of man, and for proof I refer to 
the aborigines of our own land. Were I to speculate in hypotheses 
unfavorable to human liberty, my speculations should be founded 
rather upon the vices, refinements, or density of population. Crowd- 
ed together in compact masses, even if they were philosophers, the 
contagion of the passions is communicated and caught, and the effect 
too often, I admit, is the overthrow of liberty. Dispersed over such 
an immense space as that on which the people of Spanish America are 
spread, their physical, and I believe also their moral condition, both 
favor their liberty. 

With regard to their superstition, they worship the same God with 
us. Their prayers are offered up in their temples to the same Re- 
deemer, whose intercession we expect to save us. Nor is there any 
thing in the Catholic religion unfavorable to freedom. All religions 
united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All 
separated from government are compatible with liberty. If the people 
of Spanish America have not already gone as far, in religious tolera- 
tion, as we have, the difference in their condition from ours should 
not be forgotten. Every thing is progressive; and, in time, I hope to 
see them imitating, in this respect, our example. But grant that the 
people of Spanish America are ignorant and incompetent for free gov- 
ernment, to whom is that ignorance to be ascribed ? Is it not to the 
execrable system of Spain, which she seeks again to establish and to 
perpetuate ? So far from chilling our hearts, it ought to increase our 
solicitude for our unfortunate brethren. It ought to animate us to de- 
sire the redemption of the minds and the bodies of unborn millions 
from the brutifying effects of a system whose tendency is to stifle the 
faculties of the soul, and to degrade man to the level of beasts. I 
would invoke the spirits of our departed fathers. Was it for your- 
selves only that you nobly fought ? No, no ! It was the chains that 
were forging for your posterity that made you fly to arms, and scat- 
tering the elements of these chains to the winds, you transmitted to 
us the rich inheritance of liberty. 

The exports of Spanish America (exclusive of those of the islands) 
are estimated in the valuable little work of M. Torres, deserving to 
be better known, at about eighty-one millions of dollars. Of these 
more than three-fourths consist of the precious metals. The residue 
are cocoa, coffee, cochineal, sugar, and some other articles. No na- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 91 

tion ever ottered richer commodities in exchange. It is of no material 
consequence that we produce but little, that Spanish America wants. 
Commerce, as it actually exists, in the hands of maritime states, is 
no longer confined to a mere barter, between any two states, of their 
respective productions. It renders tributary to its interests the com- 
modities of all quarters of the world ; so that a rich American cargo, 
Oi- the contents of an American commercial warehouse, present you with 
whatever is rare or valuable in every part of the globe. Commerce 
is not to be judged by its results in transactions with one nation only. 
Unfavorable balances existing with one state are made up by contrary 
balances with other states, and its true value should be tested by the 
totality of its operations. Our greatest trade — that with Great 
Britain, judged by the amount of what we sell for her consumption, 
and what we buy of her for ours, would be pronounced ruinous. But 
the unfavorable balance is covered by the profits of trade with other 
nations. We may safely trust to the daring enterprise of our mer- 
chants. The precious metals are in South America, and they will 
command the articles wanted in South America, wbieh will purchase 
them. Our navigation will be benefited by the transportation, and 
our country will realize the mercantile profits. Already the item in 
our exports of American manufactures is respectable. They go 
chiefly to the West Indies and to Spanish America. This item is con- 
stantly augmenting. And I would again, as I have on another occa- 
sion, ask gentlemen to elevate themselves to the actual importance 
and greatness of our republic ; to reflect, like true American states- 
men, that we are not legislating for the present day only ; and to 
contemplate this country in its march to true greatness, when millions 
and millions will be added to our population, and when the increased 
productive industry will furnish an infinite variety of fabrics for for- 
eign consumption, in order to supply our own wants. The distribu- 
tion of the precious metals has hitherto been principally made through 
the circuitous channel of Cadiz. No one can foresee all the effects which 
will result from a direct distribution of them from the mines which pro- 
duce them. One of these effects will probably be to give us the entire 
command of the Indian trade. The advantage we have on the map 
of the world over Europe, in that respect, is prodigious. Again, if 
England, persisting in her colonial monopoly, continues to occlude 
her ports in the West Indies to us, and we should, as I contend we 
ought, meet her system by a countervailing measure, Venezuela, New 
Granada, and other parts of Spanish America, would afford us all we 



92 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

get from the British West Indies. I confess that I despair, for the 
present, of adopting that salutary measure. It was proposed at the 
last session, and postponed. During the present session it has been 
again proposed, and, I fear, will be again postponed. I see, and I own 
it with infinite regret, a tone and a feeling in the counsels of the 
country infinitely below that which belongs to the country. It is 
perhaps the moral consequence of the exertions of the late war. We 
are alarmed at dangers, we know not what: by spectres conjured up 
by our own vivid imaginations. 

The West India bill is brought up. We shrug our shoulders, talk 
of restrictions, non-intercourse, embargo, commercial warfare, make 
long faces, and — postpone the bill. The time will however come, 
must come, when this country will not submit to a commerce with 
the British colonies upon the terms which England alone prescribes. 
And, I repeat, when it arrives, Spanish America will afford us an 
ample substitute. Then, as to our navigation ; gentlemen should 
recollect that, if reasoning from past experience were safe for the 
future, our great commercial rival will be in war a greater number 
of years than she will be in peace. Whenever she shall be at war, 
and we are in peace, our navigation being free from the risks and 
insurance incident to war, we shall engross almost the whole trans 
portation of the Spanish American commerce. For I do not believe 
that that country will ever have a considerable marine. Mexico, 
the most populous part of it, has but two ports, La Vera Cruz and 
Acapuka, and neither of them very good. Spanish America has not 
the elements to construct a marine. It wants, and must always 
want, hardy seamen. I do not believe that in the present improved 
state of navigation, any nation, so far south will ever make a figure 
as maritime powers. If Carthage and Rome, in ancient times, and 
some other states of a later period, occasionally made great exertions 
on the water, it must be recollected that they were principally on a 
small theatre, and in a totally different state of the art of navigation, 
or when there was no competition from Northern States. 

I am aware that, in opposition to the interest which I have been 
endeavoring to manifest, that this country has in the independence 
of Spanish America, it is contended that we shall find that country a 
great rival in agricultural productions. There is something so nar- 
row, and selfish, and grovelling in this argument, if founded in fact 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOl'TH AMERICA. 93 

something so unworthy the magnanimity of a great and a generous 
people, that I confess I nave scarcely patience to notice it. But it is 
not true to any extent. Of the eighty odd millions of exports, only 
aboutone million and a half consist of an article which can come into 
competition with us, and that is cotton. The tobacco which Spain 
derives from her colonies is chiefly produced in her islands. Bread 
.stuffs can nowhere be raised and brought to market in any amount 
materially affecting us. The table lands of Mexico, owig to their 
elevation, are, it is true, well adapted to the culture of grain ; but the 
expense and difficulty of getting it to the Gulf of Mexico, and the 
action of the intense heat at La Vera Cruz, the only port of exporta- 
tion, must always prevent Mexico from being an alarming competitor. 
Spanish America is capable of producing articles so much more valua- 
ble than those which we raise, that it is not probable they will aban- 
don a more profitable for a less advantageous culture, to come into 
competition with us. The West India Islands are well adapted to 
the raising of cotton ; and yet the more valuable culture of coffee and 
sugar is constantly preferred. Again, Providence has so ordered it, 
that, with regard to countries producing articles apparently similar, 
there is some peculiarity, resulting from climate, or from some other 
cause, that gives to each an appropriate place in the general wants 
and consumption of mankind. The southern part of the continent, 
La Plata and Chili, is too remote to rival us. 

The immense country watered by the Mississippi and its branches 
has a peculiar interest, which I trust I shall be excused for noticing. 
Having but the single vent of New Orleans for all the surplus pro- 
duce of their industry, it is quite evident that the}- would have a 
greater security for enjoying the advantages of that outlet, if the inde- 
pendence of Mexico upon any European power were effected. Such 
a power, owning at the same time Cuba, the great key of the Gulf of 
Mexico, and all the shores of that gulf, with the exception of the 
portion between the Perdido and the Rio del Norte, must have a 
powerful command over our interests. Spain, it is true, is not a 
dangerous neighbor at present, but, in the vicissitudes of states, her 
power may be again resuscitated. 

Havingfjhown that the cause of the patriots is just, and that we 
have a great interest in its successful issue, I will next inquire what 
course of policy it becomes us to adopt. I have already declared it to 

37 



94 SPEECHES OF HENRY CI.AY. 

be one of strict and impartial neutrality. It is not necessary for their 
interests, it is not expedient for our own, that we should take part in 
the war. All they demand of us is a just neutrality. It is compati- 
ble with this pacific policy — it is required by it, that we should re- 
cognise any established government, if there be any established gov- 
ernment in Spanish America. Recognition alone, without aid, is 
no just cause of war. With aid, it is, not because of the recognition, 
but because of the aid, as aid, without recognition, is cause of war. 
The truth of these propositions I will maintain upon principle, by the 
practice of other states, and by the usage of our own. There is no 
common tribunal among nations, to pronounce upon the fact of the 
sovereignty of a new state. Each power does and must judge for 
itself. It is an attribute of sovereignty so to judge. A nation, in 
exerting this incontestable right — in pronouncing upon the indepen- 
dence, in fact, of a new state, takes no part in the war. It gives 
neither men, nor ships, nor money. It merely pronounces that, in 
so far as it may be necessary to institute any relations, or to support 
any intercourse, with the new power, that power is capable of main- 
taining those relations, and authorizing that intercourse. Martens 
and other publicists lay down these principles. 

When the United Provinces formerly severed themselves from 
Spain, it was about eighty years before their independence was finally 
recognised by Spain. Before that recognition, the United Provin- 
ces had been received by all the rest of Europe into the family of 
nations. It is true that a war broke out between Philip and Eliza- 
beth, but it proceeded from the aid which she determined to give, 
and did give, to Holland. In no instance, I believe, can it be shown, 
from authentic history, that Spain made war upon any power on the 
sole <*round that such power had acknowledged the independence of 
the United Provinces. 

In the case of our own revolution, it was not until after France had 
given us aid, and had determined to enter into a treaty of alliance 
w ith us— a treaty by which she guarantied our independence — that 
England declared war. Holland also was charged by England with 
favoring our cause, and deviating from the line of strict neutrality. 
And, when it was perceived that she was moreover abc&t to enter 
into a treaty with us, England declared war. Even if it were shewn 
that a proud, haughty, and powerful nation like England," had made 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 96 

war upon other provinces on the ground of a mere recognition, the 
single example could not alter the public law, or shake the strength 
of a clear principle. / 

But what has been our uniform practice ? We have constantly 
proceeded on the principle, that the government de facto is that we 
can alone notice. Whatever form of government any society of peo- 
ple adopts, whoever they acknowledge as their sovereign, we con- 
sider that government or that sovereign as the one to be acknowledg- 
ed by us. We have invariably abstained from assuming a right to 
decide in favor of the sovereign dejure, and against the sovereign de 
facto- That is a question for the nation in which it arises to deter- 
mine. And so far as we are concerned, the sovereign de facto is the 
sovereign de jure. Our own revolution stands on the basis of the 
right of a people to change their rulers. I do not maintain that every 
immature revolution, every usurper, before his power is consolidated, 
is to be acknowledged by us ; but that as soon as stability and order 
are maintained, no matter by whom, we always have considered, and 
ought to consider, the actual as the true government. General Wash- 
ington, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, all, while they were respectively 
presidents, acted on these principles. 

In the case of the French republic, General Washington did not 
wait until some of the crowned heads of Europe should set him the 
example of acknowledging it, but accredited a minister at once. And 
it is remarkable that he was received before the government of the 
republic was considered as established. It will be found in Marshall's 
Life of Washington, that when it was understood that a minister from 
the French Republic was about to present himself, President Wash- 
ington submitted a number of questions to his cabinet for their con- 
sideration and advice, one of which" was, whether, upon the recep- 
tion of the minister, he should be notified that America would sus- 
pend the execution of the treaties between the two countries until 
France had an established government. General Washington did not 
stop to inquire whether the descendants of St. Louis were to be con 
sidercd as the legitimate sovereigns of France, and if the revolution 
was to be regarded ns unauthorized resistance to their sway. He 
saw France, in feet, under the government of those who Lad subvert 
fxl the throne of the Bouri/ons, and he acknowledged the! actual gov- 
ernment. During Mr. Jefferson's and Mr. Madison's administrations, 



gg SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAT. 

when the Cortes of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte respectively con 
tended for the crown, those enlightened statesmen said, We will re- 
ceive a minister from neither party ; settle the question between 
yourselves, and we will acknowledge the party that prevails. We 
have nothing to do with your feuds ; whoever all Spain acknowl- 
edges as her sovereign, is the only sovereign with whom we 
can maintain any relations. Mr. Jefferson, it is understood, con- 
sidered whether he should not receive a minister from both par- 
ties, and finally decided against it, because of the inconveniences to 
this country, which might result from the double representation of 
another power. As soon as the French armies were expelled from 
the Peninsula, Mr. Madison, still acting on the principle of the gov- 
ernment de facto, received the present minister from Spain. During 
all the phases of the French government, republic, directory, consuls, 
consul for life, emperor, king, emperor again, king, our government 
has uniformly received the minister. 

If, then, there be an established government in Spanish America, 
deserving to rank among the nations, we are morally and politically 
bound to acknowledge it, unless we renounce all the principles which 
ought to guide, and which hitherto have guided our councils. I shall 
now undertake to show, that the United Provinces of the Rio de la 
Plata possess such a government. Its limits, extending from the 
South Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, embrace a territory equal to that 
of the United States, certainly equal to it, exclusive of Louisiana. Its 
population is about three millions, more than equal to ours at thfe 
commencement of our revolution. That population is a hardy, en- 
terprising, and gallant population. The establishments of Monte- 
video and Buenos Ayres have, during different periods of their history, 
been attacked by the French, Dutch, Danes, Portuguese, English, 
and Spanish ; and such is the martial character of the people, that in 
every instance the attack has been repulsed. In 1807, General 
Whitlocke, commanding a powerful English army, was admitted, 
under the guise of a friend, into Buenos Ayres, and as soon as he was 
supposed to have demonstrated inimical designs, he was driven by 
the native and unaided force of Buenos Ayres from the country. 
Buenos Ayres has, during now nearly eight years, been in point of 
fact in the enjoyment of self-government. The capital, containing 
more than sixty thousand inhabitants, has never been once lost. As 
early as 1811, the regency of Old Spain made war upon Buenos 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OK SOUTH AMERICA. 97 

Ayres, and the consequence subsequently was, the capture of a Span- 
ish army in Montevideo, equal to that of Burgoyne. This govern- 
ment has now, in excellent discipline, three well appointed armies, 
with the most abundant material of war ; the army of Chili, the army 
of Peru, and the army of Buenos Ayres. The first, under San Mai- 
tin, has conquered Chili ; the second is penetrating in a northwestern 
direction from Buenos Ayres, into the vice-royalty of Peru ; and, ac- 
cording to the last accounts, had reduced the ancient seat of empire 
of the Incas. The third remains at Buenos Ayres to oppose any force 
which Spain may send against it. To show the condition of the 
country in July last, I again call the attention of the committee to the. 
message of the supreme director, delivered to the Congress of the. 
United Provinces, it is a paper of the same authentic character with 
the speech of the king of England on opening his parliament, or the 
message of the President of the United States at the commencement 
of Congress. 

'* The army of this capital was organized at the same time with those of the An- 
des and of the interior ; the regular force has been nearly doubled ; the militia has 
made great progress in military discipline ; our slave population has been formed into 
battalions, and taught the military art as far as is consistent- with their condition. 
Tne capital is under no apprehension that an army of ten thousand men can shake 
its liberties, and should the Peninsularians send against us thrice that number, ample 
provision has been made to receive them. 

" Our navy has been fostered in all its branches. The scarcity of means under 
which we labored until now, has not prevented us from undertaking very considera- 
ble operations, with respect to the national vessels : all of them have been repaired, 
and others have been purchased and armed, for the defence of our coasts and rivers ; 
provisions have been made, should necessity require it, for arming many more, so 
that the enemy will not lind himself secure from our reprisals even upon the ocean. 

" Our military force, at every point which it occupies, seems to be animated with 
the same spirit ; its tactics are uniform, and have undergone a rapid improvement 
from the science of experience, which it has borrowed from warlike nations. 

Our arsenals have been replenished with arms, and a sufficient store oi cannon 
and munitions of war have been provided to maintain the contest for many years ; 
and this, after having supplied articles of every description to those districts, which 
have not as yet come into the Union, but whose connexion with us has been only 
intercepted by reason of our past misforluuet 

" Our legions daily receive considerable augmentations from new levies ; all our 
preparations have been made, as though we were about to enter upon the contest 
anew. Until now, the vastneas of our resources was unknown to us, and our ene- 
mies may contemplate, with deep mortification and despair, the present dour: -lung 
state of these provinces aftei so many devastations. 

" While thus occupied in providing for our safety within, and preparing for as* 
saults from without, other objects of solid interest have not been neglected, and 
which hitherto were thought to oppose insurmountable obstacles. 

" Our system of finance had hitherto been on a fooling entirely inadequate to the 
unfailing supply of our wants, and still more to the liquidation ol the immense debt 
which had been contracted in former years. An unremitted application to this ob- 
ject, has enabled me to create the means of satisfying the creditoreof : l i-* sta^e who 



SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT 



had already abandoned their debts as lost, as well as to devise a fixed mode, by 
which the taxes may be made to fall equally and indirectly on the whole mass of 
our population ; it is not the least merit of this operation, that it has bwn effected 
in despite of the writings by which it was attacked, and which are but little credita- 
ble to the intelligence and good intentions of their authors. At no other period have, 
the public exigencies been so punctually supplied, nor have more important works 
been undertaken. 

" The people, moreover, have been relieved from many burdens, which being par- 
tial, or confined to particular classes, had occasioned vexation and disgust. Other 
vexations, scarcely less grievous, will by degrees be also suppressed, avoiding as far 
as possible, a recurrence to loans, which have drawn after them the most fatal con- 
sequences to states. Should we, however, be compelled to resort to such expedients, 
the lenders will not see themselves in danger of losing their advances. 

" Many undertakings have been set on foot for the advancement of the general 
prosperity. Such has been the re-establishing of the college, heretofore named San 
Carlos, but hereafter to be called the Union of the South, as a point designated for 
the dissemination of learning to the youth of every part of the state, on the most 
extensive scale, for the attainment of which object the government is at the present 
moment engaged in putting in practice every possible diligence. It will not be long 
before these nurseries will flourish, in which the liberal and exact sciences will be 
cultivated, in which the hearts of those young men will be formed, who are destined 
at some future day to add new splendor to our country 

"Such has been the establishment of a military depot on the frontier, with its spa- 
cious magazine, a necessary measure to guard us from future dangers, a work which 
does more honor to the prudent foresight of our country, as it was undertaken in the 
moment of its prosperous fortunes, a measure which must give more occasion for 
reflection to our enemies than they can impose upon us by their boastings. 

" Fellow-citizens, we owe our unhappy reverses and calamities to the depraving 
system of our ancient metropolis, which, in condemning us to the obscurity ana 
opprobrium of the most degraded destiny, has sown with thorns the path that con- 
ducts us to liberty. Tell that metropolis that even she may glory in your works! 
Already have you cleared all the rocks, escaped every danger, and conducted these 
provinces to the flourishing condition in which we now behold them. Let the ene- 
mies of your name contemplate with despair the energies of your virtues, and let 
the nations acknowledge that you already appertain to their illustrious rank. Let 
us felicitate ourselves on the blessings we nave already obtained, and let us show to 
the world that we have learned to profit by the experience of our past misfortunes." 

There is a spirit of bold confidence running through this fine 
state paper, which nothing but conscious strength could communi- 
cate. Their armies, their magazines, their finances, are on the most 
solid and respectable footing. And, amidst all the cares of war, and 
those incident to the consolidation of their new institutions, leisure is 
found to promote the interests of science, and the education of the 
rising generation. It is true, the first part of the message portrays 
scenes of difficulty and commotion, the usual attendants upon revolu- 
tion. The very avowal of their troubles manifests, however, that 
they are subdued. And what state, passing through the agitation of a 
great revolution, is free from them ? We had our tories,our intrigues, 
our factions. More than once were the affections of the country, and 
the confidence of our councils, attempted to be shaken in the great 
father of our liberties. Not a Spanish bayonet remains within the 
immense extent of the territories of the La Plata to contest the au- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 99 

thority of the actual government. It is free, it is independent, it is 
sovereign. It manages the interests of the society that submits to 
its sway. It is capable of maintaining the relations between that 
society and other nations. 

Are we not bound, then, upon our own principles, to acknowledge 
this new republic ? If we do not, who will ? Are we to expect that 
Kings will set us the example of acknowledging the only republic on 
earth, except our own ? We receive, promptly receive, a minister 
from whatever king sends us one. From the great powers and the 
little powers we accredit ministers. We do more : we hasten to re- 
ciprocate the compliment ; and anxious to manifest our gratitude for 
royal civility, we send for a minister (as in the case of Sweden and 
the Netherlands) of the lowest grade, one of the highest rank recog- 
nised by our laws. We are the natural head of the American family. 
I would not intermeddle in the affairs of Europe. We wisely keep 
aloof from their broils. I would not even intermeddle in those of 
other parts of America, further than to exert the incontestable rights 
appertaining to us as a free, sovereign, and independent power ; and, 
I contend, that the accrediting of a minister from the new republic is 
such a right. We are bound to receive their minister, if we mean to 
be really neutral. If the royal belligerent is represented and heard 
at our government, the republican belligerent ought also to be heard 
Otherwise, one party will be in the condition of the poor patriots who 
were tried ex-parle the other day in the Supreme Court, without 
counsel, without friends. Give Mr. Onis his conge, or receive the 
republican minister. Unless you do so, your neutrality is nominal. 

I will next proceed to inquire into the consequences of a recogni- 
tion of the new republic. Will it involve us in war with Spain ? I 
have shown, I trust, successfully shown, that there is no just cause 
of war to Spain. Being no cause of war, we have no right to ex- 
pect that war will ensue. If Spain, without cause, will make war, 
she may make it whether we do or do not acknowledge the republic. 
But she will not, because she cannot, make war against us. I call 
the attention of the committee to a report of the minister of the Ha- 
cienda to the king of Spain, presented about eight months ago. A 
more beggarly account of empty boxes was never rendered. The 
picture of Mr. Dallas, sketched in his celebrated report during the 
.last war, may be contemplated without emotion, after surveying that 



100 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of Mr. Gary. The expenses of the current year required eight 
hundred and thirty millions two hundred and sixty-seven thousand 
eight hundred and twenty-nine reals, and the deficit of the income is 
represented as two hundred and thirty-three millions one hundred and 
forty thousand nine hundred and thirty-two reals. This, besides an 
immense mass of unliquidated debt, which the minister acknowledges 
the utter inability of the country to pay, although bound in honor to 
redeem it. He states that the vassals of the king are totally unable to 
submit to any new taxes, and the country is without credit, so as to 
render anticipation by loans wholly impracticable. Mr. Gary ap- 
pears to be a virtuous man, who exhibits frankly the naked truth ; 
and yet such a minister aknowledges, that the decorum due to one 
single family, that of the monarch, does aiot admit, in this critical 
condition of Iris country, any reduction of the enormous sum of up- 
wards of fifty-six millions of reals, set apart to defray the expenses 
of that family ! He states that a foreign war would be the greatest of 
all calamities, and one which, being unable to provide for it, they ought 
to employ every possible means to avert. He proposed some incon- 
siderable contribution from the clergy, and the whole body was in- 
stantly in an uproar. Indeed, I have no doubt that, surrounded as 
Mr. Gary is, by corruption, by intrigue, and folly, and imbecility, he 
will be compelled to retire, if he has not already been dismissed, from 
a post for which he has too much integrity. It has been now about 
four years since the restoration of Ferdinand ; and if, during that pe- 
riod, the whole energies of the monarchy have been directed unsuc- 
cessfully against the weakest and most vulnerable of all the American 
possessions, Venezuela, how is it possible for Spain to encounter the 
difficulties of a new war with this country ? Morillo has been sent 
out with one of the finest armies that has ever left the shores of 
Europe — consisting of ten thousand men, chosen from all the vete- 
rans who have fought in the Peninsula. It has subsequently been re- 
inforced with about three thousand more. And yet, during the last 
summer, it was reduced, by the sword and the climate, to about four 
, thousand effective men. And Venezuela, containing a population of 
only about one million, of which near two-thirds are persons of color, 
remains unsubdued. The little island of Margaritta, whose popula- 
tion is less than twenty thousand inhabitants — a population fighting 
for liberty with more than Roman valor — has compelled that army to 
retire upon the main. Spain, by the late accounts, appeared to be 
deliberating upon the necessity of resorting to that measure of can- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 101 

icription for which Bonaparte has been so much abused. The effect 
of a war with this country would be to ensure success, beyond all doubt, 
to the cause of American independence. Those parts even, over 
which Spain has some prospect of maintaining her dominions, would 
probably be put in jeopardy. Such a war would be attended with 
the immediate and certain loss of Florida. Commanding the Gulf of 
Mexico, as we should be enabled to do by our navy, blockading the 
port of Havana, the port of La Vera Cruz, and the coast of Terra 
Firma, and throwing munitions of war into Mexico. Cuba would be 
menaced — Mexico emancipated — and Morillo's army deprived of 
supplies, now drawn principally from this country through the Havana, 
compelled to surrender. The war, I verily believe, would be termi- 
nated in less than two years, supposing no other power to interpose. 

Will the allies interfere ? If, by the exertion of an unquestion- 
able attribute of a sovereign power, we should give no just cause of 
war to Spain herself, how can it be pretended that we should furnish 
even a specious pretext to the allies for making war upon us ? On 
what ground could they attempt to justify a rupture with us, for the 
exercise of a risht which we hold in common with them, and with 
every other independent state ? But we have a surer guarantee 
against their hostility, in their interests. That all the allies, who 
have any foreign commerce, have an interest in the independence of 
Spanish America, is perfectly evident. On what ground, I ask, is it 
likely, then, that they would support Spain, in opposition to their 
own decided interest ? To crush the spirit of revolt, and prevent the 
progress of free principles ? Nations, like individuals, do not sensibly 
feel, and seldom act upon dangers which are remote either in time or 
place. Of Spanish America, but little is known by the great body of 
the population of Europe. Even in this country, the most astonishing 
ignorance prevails respecting it. Those European statesmen who are 
acquainted with the country, will reflect, that, tossed by a great rev- 
olution, it will most probably constitute four or five several nations, 
and that the ultimate modification of all their various governments is 
by no means absolutely certain. But I entertain no doubt that the 
principle of cohesion among the allies is gone. It was annihilated 
in the memorable battle of Waterloo. When the question was, 
whether one should engross all, a common danger united all. How 
long was it, even with a clear perception of that danger, before an 
effective coalition could be formed ? How often did one power 

3S 



J02 SPEECHES OF UENRY CLAY. 

atand by, unmoved and indifferent to the fate of its neighbor, although 
the destruction of that neighbor removed the only barrier to an at- 
tack upon itself ? No ; the consummation of the cause of the allies 
was, and all history and all experience will prove it, the destruc- 
tion of the alliance. The principle is totally changed. It is 
no longer a common struggle against the colossal power of Bonaparte, 
but it has become a common scramble for the spoils of his empire. 
There may, indeed, be one or two points on which a common interest 
still exists, such as the convenience of subsisting their armies on the 
vitals of poor suffering France. But as for action — for new enter- 
prises, there is no principle of unity, there can be no accordance of 
interests, or of views, among them. 

What is the condition in which Europe is left after all its efforts ? 
It is divided into two great powers, one having the undisputed com- 
mand of the land — the other of the water. Paris is transferred to 
St. Petersburgh, and the navies of Europe are at the bottom of the 
sea, or concentrated in the ports of England. Russia — that huge 
land animal — awing by the dread of her vast power all continental 
Europe, is seeking to encompass the Porte ; and constituting herself 
the kraten of the ocean, is anxious to lave her enormous sides in the 
more genial waters of the Mediterranean. It is said, I know, that 
she has indicated a disposition to take part with Spain. No such 
thing. She has sold some old worm-eaten, decayed fir-built ships to 
Spain, but the crews which navigate them are to return from the port of 
delivery, and the bonus she is to get, I believe to be the island of Minor- 
ca, in conformity with the cardinal point of her policy. France is great- 
ly interested in whatever would extend her commerce, and regenerate 
her marine, and consequently, more than any other power of Europe, 
England alone excepted, is concerned in the independence of Spanish 
America. I do not despair of France, so long as France has a legis- 
lative body, collected from all its parts, the great repository of its 
wishes and its will. Already has that body manifested a spirit of 
considerable independence. And those who, conversant with French 
history, know what magnanimous stands have been made by the par- 
liaments, bodies of limited extent, against the royal prerogative, will 
De able to appreciate justly the moral force of such a legislative body. 
Whilst it exists, the true interests of France will be cherished and 
pursued on points of foreign policy, in opposition to the pride and in- 
terests of the Bourbon family, if the actual dynasty, impelled by this 
pride, should seek to subserve these interest* 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 103 

England finds, that, after all her exertions, she is everywhere de- 
spised on the continent ; her maritime power viewed with jealousy ; 
her commerce subjected to the most onerous restrictions ; selfishness 
imputed to all her policy. All the accounts from France represent 
that every party, Bonapartists, Jacobins, Royalists, Moderes, Ultras, 
all burn with indignation towards England, and pant for an opportu- 
nity to avenge themselves on the power to whom they ascribe all 
their disasters. 

[Here Mr. C. read a part of a letter which he had just received from an intelligent 
friend at Paris, and which composed only a small portion of the mass of evidence 
to tbe same effect, which had come under his notice.") 

It is impossible, that with powers, between whom so much cor- 
dial dislike, so much incongruity exists, there can be any union or 
concert. Whilst the free principles of the French revolution re- 
mained ; those principles which were, so alarming to the stability of 
thrones, there never was any successful or cordial union ; coalition 
after coalition, wanting the spirit of union, was swept away by the 
overwhelming power of France. It was not until those principles 
were abandoned, and Bonaparte had erected on their ruins his stupen- 
dous fabric of universal empire — nor indeed until after the frosts of 
Heaven favored the cause of Europe, that an effective coalition was 
formed. No, the complaisance inspired in the allies from unexpected, 
if not undeserved success, may keep them nominally together ; but 
for all purposes of united and combined action, the alliance is gone : 
and I do not believe in the chimera of their crusading against the in- 
dependence of a country, whose liberation would essentially promote 
all their respective interests. 

But the question of the interposition of the allies, in the event of 
our recognising the new Republic, resolves itself into a question 
whether England, in such event, would make war upon us : if it can 
be shown that England would not, it results either that the other 
allies would not, or that, if they should, in which case England would 
most probably support the cause of America, it would be a war with- 
out the maritime ability to maintain it. I contend that England is 
alike restrained by her honor and by her interests from waging war 
against us, and consequently against Spanish America, also, for an 
acknowledgment of the independence of the new state. England en- 



104 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAT. 

couraged and fomented the revolt of the colonies as early as June, 
1797. Sir Thomas Picton, governor of Trinidad, in virtue of orders 
from the British minister of foreign affairs, issued a proclamation, in 
which he expressly assures the inhabitants of Terra Firma, that the 
British government will aid in establishing their independence. 

" With regard to the hope you entertain of raising the spirits of those persons with 
whom you are in correspondence, towards encouraging the inhabitants to resist the 
oppressive authority of their government, I have little more to say than that they 
may be certain that whenever they are in that disposition, they may receive at your 
hands all the succors to be expected from his Britannic Majesty, be it with forces 
or with arms and ammunition to any extent ; with the assurance that the views of 
his Britannic Majesty go no further than to secure to them their independence," 6rc 

In the prosecution of the same object, Great Britain defrayed the 
expenses of the famous expedition of Miranda. England, in 1811, 
when she was in the most intimate relations with Spain, then strug- 
gling against the French power, assumed the attitude of a mediator 
between the colonies and the peninsula. The terms on which she 
conceived her mediation could alone be effectual were rejected by the 
Cortes, at the lowest state of the Spanish power. Among these 
terms, England required for the colonies a perfect freedom of com- 
merce, allowing only some degree of preference to Spain ; that the 
appointments of viceroys and governors should be made indiscrimi- 
nately from Spanish Americans and Spaniards ; and that the interior 
government, and every branch of public administration, should be in- 
trusted to the cabildo, or municipalities, &c. If Spain, wljen Spain 
was almost reduced to the Island of St. Leon, then rejected those 
conditions, will she now consent to them, amounting, as they do, sub- 
stantially, to the independence of Spanish America. If England, 
devoted as she was at that time to the cause of the Peninsula, even 
then thought those terms due to the colonies, will she now, when no 
particular motive exists for cherishing the Spanish power, and after 
the ingratitude with which Spain has treated her, think that the 
colonies ought to submit to less favorable conditions ? And would 
not England stand disgraced in the eyes of the whole world, if, after 
having abetted and excited a revolution, she should now attempt to 
reduce the colonies to unconditional submission, or should make war 
upon us for acknowledging that independence which she herself 
sought to establish ? 

No guarantee for the conduct of nations or individuals ought to be 



OW THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 105 

stronger than that which honor imposes ; but for those who put no 
confidence in its obligations, I have an argument to urge of more 
conclusive force. It is founded upon the interests of England. Ex- 
cluded almost as she is from the continent, the commerce of Ame- 
rica, South and North, is worth to her more than the commerce of the 
residue of the world. That to all Spanish America has been alone 
estimated at fifteen millions sterling. Its aggregate value to Spanish 
America and the . United States may be fairly stated at upwards of 
one hundred million dollars. The effect of a war with the two 
countries would be to divest England of this great interest, at a mo- 
ment when she is anxiously engaged in repairing the ravages of the 
European war. Looking to the present moment only, and merely 
to the interests of commerce, England is concerned more than even 
this country in the success of the cause of independence in Spanish 
America. The reduction of the Spanish power in America has been 
the constant and favorite aim of her policy for two centuries — she 
must blot out her whole history, reverse the maxims of all her illus- 
trious statesmen, extinguish the spirit of commerce which animates, 
directs, and controls all her movements, before she can render herself 
accessary to the subjugation of Spanish America. No commercial 
advantages which Spain m|y offer by treaty, can possess the security 
for her trade, which independence would communicate. The one 
would be most probably of limited duration, and liable to violation 
from policy, from interest, or from caprice. The other would be as 
permanent as independence. That I do not mistake the views of the 
British cabinet, the recent proclamation of the Prince Regent I think 
proves. The Committee will remark that the document does not 
describe the patriots as rebels or insurgents, but, using a term which 
I hasre no doubt has been well weighed, it declares the existence of 
a " state of warfare." And with regard to English subjects, who are 
in the armies of Spain, although they entered the service without 
restriction as to their military dutfes, it requires that they shall not 
take part against the colonies. The subjects of England freely sup- 
ply the patriots with arms and ammunition, and an honorable friend 
of mine (Col. Johnson) has just received a letter from one of the 
West India Islands, stating the arrival there from England of the 
skeletons of three regiments, with many of the men to fill them, des- 
tined to aid the patriots. In the Quarterly Review of November 
last, a journal devoted to the ministry, and a work of the highest 
authority, as it respects their views — the policy of neutrality is 



106 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

declared and supported as the true policy of England ; and that even 
if the United States were to take part in the war ; and Spain is 
expressly notified that she cannot and must not expect aid from 
England. 

" In arguing therefore for the advantage of a strict neutrality, we must enter an 
earl)' protest against any imputations of hostility to the cause of genuine freedom, 
or of any passion f >r despotism and the Inquisition. We are no more the panegyr- 
ists of legitimate authority in all times, circumstances, and situations, than we are 
advocates for revolution in the abstract," &c. " But it has been plausibly asserted, 
that by abstaining from interference in the atfairs of South America, we are surren- 
dering to the United States all the advantages which might be secured to ourselves 
from tliis revolution ; that we are assisting to increase the trade and power of a na- 
tion which alone can ever be the maritime rival of England. It appears to us ex- 
tremely doubtful whether any advantage, commercial or political, can be lost to 
England by a neutral conduct ; it must be observed that the United States them- 
selves have given every public proof of their intention to pursue the same line of 
policy. But admitting that this conduct is nothing more than a decent pretext ; or 
admitting still farther, that they will afford to the Independents direct and open as- 
sistance, our view of the case would remain precisely the same," ecc. " To perse- 
vere in force, unaided, is to miscalculate her (Spain's) own resources, even to in- 
fatuation. To expect the aid of an allv in such a cause would, if that ally were 
England, be to suppose this country as forgetful of its own past history as of its im- 
mediate interests and duties. Far better would it be for Spain, instead of calling 
for our aid, to profit by our experience ; and to substitute, ere it be to* late, for efforts 
like those by which the North American colonies were lost to this country, the 
conciliatory measures by which they might have been retained." 

In the case of the struggle between Spain and her colonies, Eng- 
land, for once at least, has manifested a degree of wisdom highly de- 
serving our imitation, but unfortunately the very reverse of her course 
has been pursued by us. She has so conducted, by operating upon 
the hopes of the two parties, as to keep on the best terms with both 
— to enjoy all the advantages of the rich commerce of both. We 
have, by a neutrality bill containing unprecedented features ; and still 
more by a late executive measure, to say the least of it, of doubtful 
constitutional character, contrived to dissatisfy both parties. We 
have the confidence neither of Spain nor the colonies. 

It remains for me to defend the proposition which I meant to sub- 
mit, from an objection which I have heard intimated, that it interferes 
with the duties assigned to the executive branch. On this subject I 
feel the greatest solicitude ; for no man more than myself respects 
the preservation of the independence of the several departments of 
government, in the constitutional orbits which are prescribed to them. 
It is my favorite maxim, that each, acting within its proper sphere, 
should move with its constitutional independence, and under its con 
stitutional responsibility, without influence from any other. I am 
perfectly aware that the constitution of the United States, and I ad- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA. 107 

mit the proposition in its broadest sense, confides to the executive the 
reception and the deputation of ministers. But, in relation to the 
latter operation, Congress has concurrent will, in the power of provi- 
ding, for the payment of their salaries. The instrument nowhere 
says or implies that the executive act of sending a minister to a for- 
eign country shall precede the legislative act which provides for the 
payment of his salary. And, in point of fact, our statutory code is 
full of examples of legislative action prior to executive action, both 
in relation to the deputation of agents abroad, and to the subject mat- 
ter of treaties. Perhaps the act of sending a minister abroad, and 
the act of providing for the allowance of his salary, ought to be sim- 
ultaneous ; but if, in the order of precedence, there be more reason 
on the one side than on the other, 1 think it is in favor of the priority 
of the legislative act, as the safer depository of power. When a min- 
ister is sent abroad, although the legislature may be disposed to think 
his mission useless — although, if previously consulted, they would 
have said they would not consent to pay such a minister, the duty is 
delicate and painful to refuse to pay the salary promised to him whom 
the executive has even unnecessarily sent abroad. I can illustrate 
my idea by the existing missions to Sweden and to the Netherlands. 
I have no hesitation in saying, that if we had not ministers of the 
first grade there, and if the legislature were asked, prior to sending 
them, whether it \vould consent to pay ministers of that grade, I 
would not, and I believe Congress would not, consent to pay them. 

If it be urged that, by avowing our willingness, in a legislative act, 
to pay a minister not yet sent, and whom the President may think it 
improper to send abroad, we operate upon the President by all the 
force of our opinion ; it may be retorted that when we are called 
upon to pay any minister, sent under similar circumstances, we are 
operated upon by all the force of the President's opinion. The true 
theory of our government at least supposes that each of the two de- 
partments, acting on its proper constitutional responsibility, will de- 
cide according to its best judgment, under all the circumstances of 
the case. If we make the previous appropriation, we act upon our 
constitutional responsibility, and the President afterwards will pro- 
ceed upon his. And so if he makes the previous appointment. We 
have the right, after a minister is sent abroad, and we are called upon 
to pay him, and we ought to deliberate upon the propriety of his mis- 
sion we may and ought to grantor withhold his salary. If this 



108 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLATT. 

power of deliberation is conceded subsequently to tbe deputation of the 
minister, it must exist prior to that deputation. Whenever we de- 
liberate, we deliberate under our constitutional responsibility Pass 
the amendment I propose, and it will be passed under that respqnsi- 
bility. Then the President, when he deliberates on the propriety of 
the mission, will act under his constitutional responsibility. Each 
branch of government, moving in its proper sphere, will act with as 
much freedom from the influence of the other as is practically at- 
tainable. 

There is great reason, from the peculiar character of the American 
government, for a perfect understanding between the legislative and 
executive branches, in relation to the acknowledgment of a new 
power. Everywhere else the power of declaring war resides with 
the executive. Here it is deposited with the legislature. If, con- 
trary to my opinion, there be even a risk that the acknowledgment 
of a new state may lead to war, it is advisable that the step should 
not be taken without a previous knowledge of the will of the war- 
making branch. I am disposed to give to the President all the confi- 
dence which he must derive from the unequivocal expression of our 
will. This expression I know may be given in the form of an ab- 
stract resolution, declaratory of that will ; but I prefer at this time 
proposing an act of practical legislation. And if I have been so for- 
tunate as to communicate to the committee, in any thing like that 
degree of strength in which I entertain them, the convictions that the 
cause of the patriots is just — that the character of the war, as waged 
by Spain, should induce us to wish them success ; that we have a 
great interest in that success ; that this interest, as well as our neu- 
tral attitude, require us to acknowledge any established government 
in Spanish America ; that the United Provinces of the River Plate 
is such a government ; that we ma) T safely acknowledge its indepen- 
dence, without danger of war from Spain, from the allies, or from 
England; and that, without unconstitutional interference with the 
executive power, with peculiar fitness, we may express, in an act of 
appropriation, our sentiments, leaving him to the exercise of a just 
and responsible discretion, — I hope the committee will adopt the 
proposition which I have now the honor of presenting to them, after 
a respectful tender of my acknowledgments for their attention and 
kindness, during, I fear, the tedious period I have been so unprofita- 



ON THE EMANCIPATION 01- SOUTH AMERICA. 109 

bly trespassing upon their patience. I offer the following amendment 
to the bill : 

" For one year's salary, and an outfit to a minister to the United Provinces of the 
Rio de la Plata, the salary to commence, and the outfit to be paid, whenever the 
President shall deem it expedient to send a minister to the said United Provinces, a 
■am not exceeding eighteen thousand dollars." 



33 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 

Tk the House of Representatives, January 8, 1819. 



[In the year 1814, General Jackson, then in command of the South Western 
Military District of the United States, then expecting an invasion from a formida- 
ble British force, was aroused by the arrival of a small British force at Peneacola, 
which was received as friends and allies by the Spanish commander of that post, 
and the British commander thence issued a Proclamation threatening hostile move- 
ments against our government, and inviting the Louisianians to rally around the 
British standard. It was also a subject of complaint on our part, that the Creek and 
Seminole Indians engaged in ferocious hostilities against us were sheltered, if not 
protected in Florida, and that its authorities lacked the power, if not the will to 
.cstrain them. Impelled by these provocations, General Jackson, without authority 
from our government, marched his army into Florida, then the possession of a 
nation at peace with us, took Pensacola, hung two Indian traders, and committed 
many acts of great temerity and harshness, not to say cruelty. These high-handed 
proceedings came under review in Congress in 1819, upon resolutions of censure on 
General Jackson for exceeding his authority and for tyranny, when Mr. Clay ad- 
dressed the House as follows:] 

Mr. Chairman : — In rising to address you, sir, on the very inter- 
esting subject which now engages the attention of Congress, I must 
be allowed to say, that all inferences drawn from the course which it 
will be my painful duty to take in this discussion, of unfriendliness 
either to the chief magistrate of the country, or to the illustrious mili- 
tary chieftain whose operations are under investigation, will be 
wholly unfounded. Towards that distinguished captain, who shed 
so much glory on our country, whose renown constitutes so great a 
portion of its moral property, I never had, I never can have any other 
feelings than those of the most profound respect, and of the utmost 
kindness. With him my acquaintance is very limited, but, so far as 
it has extended, it has been of the most amicable kind. I know the 
motives which have been, and which will again be attributed to me, 
in regard to the other exalted personage alluded to. They have been 



©X THE SEMINOLE WAR. Ill 

and will be unfounded. I have no interest, other than that of seeing 
the concerns of my country well and happily administered. It is in 
finitely more, gratifying to behold the prosperity of my country advanc 
ing by the wisdom of the measures adopted to promote it, than it 
would be to expose the errors which may be committed, if there be 
any, in the conduct of its affairs. Little as has been my experience 
in public life, it has been sufficient to teach me that the most humble 
station is surrounded by difficulties and embarrassments. Rather 
than throw obstructions in the way of the President, I would precede 
him, and pick out those, if I could, which might jostle him in his 
progress — I would sympathize with him in his embarrassments, and 
commiserate with him in his misfortunes. It is true, that it has been 
my mortification to differ from that gentleman on several occasions. 
I may be again reluctantly compelled to differ from him ; but I will 
with the utmost sincerity assure the committee that I have formed no 
resolution, come under no engagements, and that I never will form any 
resolution, or contract any engagements, for systematic opposition to 
his administration, or to that of any other chief magistrate. 

I beg leave further to premise, that the subject under consideration 
presents two distinct aspects, susceptible, in my judgment, of the 
most clear and precise discrimination. The one I will call its foreign, 
the other its domestic aspect. In regard to the first, I will say, that 
I approve entirely of the conduct of our government, and that Spain 
has no cause of complaint. Having violated an important stipula- 
tion of the treaty of 1795, that power has justly subjected herself to 
all the consequences which ensued upon the entry into her dominions, 
and it belongs not to her to complain of those measures which re- 
sulted from her breach of contract ; still less has she a right to ex- 
amine into the considerations connected with the domestic aspect of 
the subject. 

What are the propositions before the committee ? The first in 
order is that reported by the military committee, which asserts the 
disapprobation of this House, of the proceedings in the trial and exe- 
cution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. The second, being the first con- 
tained in the proposed amendment, is the consequence of that disap- 
probation, and contemplates the passage of a law to prohibit the exe- 
cution hereafter of any captive, taken by the army, without the 
approbation of the President. The third proposition is, that this 



112 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

House disapproves of the forcible seizure of the Spanish posts, as 
contrary to orders, and in violation of the constitution. The fourth 
proposition, as the result of the last, is, that a law shall pass to pro- 
hibit the march of the army of the United States, or any corps of it, 
into any foreign territory, without the previous authorization of Con 
gress, except it be in fresh pursuit of a defeated enemy. The first 
and third are general propositions, declaring the sense of the House 
in regard to the evils pointed out ; and the second and fourth propose 
the legislative remedies against the recurrence of those evils. 

It will be at once perceived, by this simple statement of the propo- 
sitions, that no other censure is proposed against General Jackson 
himself, than what is merely consequential. His name even does 
not appear in any one of the resolutions. The legislature of the coun- 
try, in reviewing the state of the Union, and considering the events 
which have transpired since its last meeting, finds that particular oc- 
currences, of the greatest moment, in many respects, have taken place 
near our southern border. I will add, that the House has not sought, 
by any officious interference with the duties of the executive, to gain 
jurisdiction over this matter. The President, in his message at the 
opening of the session, communicated the very information on which 
it was proposed to act. I would ask, for what purpose ? That we 
should fold our arms and yield a tacit acquiescence, even if we sup- 
posed that information disclosed alarming events, not merely as it 
regards the peace of the country, but in respect to its constitution and 
character ? Impossible. In communicating these papers, and vol- 
untarily calling the attention of Congress to the subject, the President 
must himself have intended that we should apply any remedy that 
we might be able to devise. Having the subject thus regularly and 
fairly before us, and proposing merely to collect the sense of the 
House upon certain important transactions which it discloses, with 
the view to the passage of such laws as may be demanded by the 
public interest, I repeat, that there is no censure any where, except 
such as is strictly consequential upon our legislative action. The 
supposition of every new law, having for its object to prevent the 
recurrence of evil, is, that something has happened which ought not 
to have taken place, and no other than this indirect sort of censure 
will flow from the resolutions before the committee. 

Having thus given my view of the nature and character of the 



ON THE 8EMIN0LE WAR. 118 

propositions under consideration, I am far from intimating that it is 
not my purpose to go into a full, a free, and a thorough investigation 
of the facts, and of the principles of law, public, municipal, and con- 
stitutional, involved in them. And, whilst I trust I shall speak with 
the decorum due to the distinguished officers of the government 
whose proceedings are to be examined, I shall exercise the indepen- 
dence which belongs to me as a representative of the people, in freely 
and fully submitting my sentiments. 

In noticing the painful incidents of this war, it is impossible not to 
inquire into its origin. I fear that it will be found to be the famous 
treaty of Fort Jackson, concluded in August, 1814; and I must ask 
the indulgence of the Chairman while I read certain parts of that 
treaty. 

Whereas an unprovoked, inhuman, and sanguinary war, waged by the hostile 
Creeks agaifrist the United States, hath been repelled, prosecuted, and determined, 
successfully on the part of the said States, in conformity with principles of national 
justice and honorable warfare : and whereas consideration is due to the rectitude 
of proceedings dictated by instructions relating to the re-establishing of peace : be 
it remembered, that, prior to the conquest of that part of the Creek nation hostile to 
the United States, numberless aggressions had been committed against the peace, 
the property, and the lives of citizens of the United States, and those of the Creek 
Nation in amity with her, at the mouth of Duck river, Fort Mimms, and elsewhere, 
contrary to national faith, and the regard due to an article of the treaty concluded 
at Sew York, in the year 1790, between the two nations: that the United States, 
previous to the perpetration of such outrages, did, in order to ensure future amity and 
concord between the Creek Nation and the said States, in conformity with the stip- 
ulations ot former treaties, fulfil, with punctuality and good faith, her engagements 
to the said Nation : that more than two-thirds of the whole number of Chiefs and 
Warriors of the Creek Nation, disregarding the genuine spirit of existing treaties, 
Buffered themselves to be instigated to violations of their national honor, and the re- 
spect due to a part of their own nation, faithful to the United States, and the prin- 
ciple£of humanity, by impostors, denominating themselves Prophets, and by the 
duplicity and misrepesrentations of foreign emissaries, whose governments are at 
war, open or understood, with the United States. 

Article 2. — The United States will guaranty to the Creek Nation the integrity of 
all their territory eastwardly and northwardly of the said line, (described in the first 
Article,) to be run and described as mentioned in the first Article 

Article 3. — The United States demand that the Creek Nation abandon all commu- 
nication, and cease to hold intercourse with any British post, garrison, or town; 
and that they shall not admit among them any agent or trader, who shall not de- 
rive authority to hold commercial or other intercourse with them, by license from 
the President or other authorized agent of the United States. 

Article 4.— The United States demand an acknowledgment of the right: to estab- 
lish military posts and trading houses, and to open roads within the territory guar- 
antied to the Creek Nation by the second Article, and a right to the free navigation 
of all its waters. 

Article 5.— The United States demind that a surrender be immediately made, of 
all the persons and property taken from the citizens of the United Stales, (he friendly 
part of the Creek Nation, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations, to th* 



114 SPEECHES OF HE!fRY CLAY. 

respective owners ; and the United States will cause to be immediately restored to 
the formerly hostile Creeks all the property taken from them since their submission, 
either by the United States, or by any Indian Nations in amity with the United 
States, together with all the prisoners taken from them during the war. 

Article G.— The United States demand the caption and surrender of ail the Pro- 
phets and instigators of the war, whether foreigners or natives, who have not sub- 
mitted to the arms of the United States, and become parties to these articles of ca- 
pitulation, if ever they shall be found within the territory guarantied to the Creek 
Nation by the second" Article. 

Article 7. — The Creek Nation bet • . ;nc. and not at present 

having the means of subsistence, the United States, from motives of humanity, wiB 
continue to furnish gratuitously the necessaries of life, until the crops of com can 
be considered competent to vield the Nation a supply, and will establish trading 
houses in the Nation, at the discretion of the President of the United State*, and at 
such places as he shall direct, to enable the Nation, by industry and economy, to 
procure cloth in;. 

I have never perused this instrument until within a few days past, 
and I have read it with the deepest mortification and regret. A more 
dictatorial spirit I have never seen displayed in any instrument. I 
would challenge an examination of all the records of diplomacy, not 
excepting even those in the most haughty period of imperial Rome, 
when she was carrying her arms into the barbarian nations that sur- 
rounded her, and I do not believe a solitary instance can be found of 
such an inexorable spirit of domination pervading a eompa«t purport- 
ing to be a treaty of peace. It consists of the most severe and humil- 
iating demands — of the surrender of a large territory — of the privi- 
lege of making roads through the remnant which was retained — of 
the risdit of establishing trading houses — of the obligation of delivering 
into our hands their prophets. And all this of a wretched people%e- 
duced to the last extremity of distress,, whose miserable existence 
we have to preserve by a voluntary stipulation to furnish them with 
bread ! When did the all-conquering and desolating Rome ever fail to 
respect the altars and the gods of those whom she subjugated ? Let 
me not be told that these prophets were impostors, who d< ceived the 
Indians. They were their prophets — the Indians believed and venerated 
them and it is not for us to dictate a religious belief to them. It does 
not belong to the holy character of the religion which we process, to car- 
ry its precepts, by the force of the bayonet, into the bosoms of other 
people. Mild and gentle persuasion was the great instrument em- 
ployed by the meek Founder of our religion. We leave to the hu- 
mane and benevolent efforts of the reverend professors of Christianity 
to convert from barbarism those unhappy nations yet immersed in its 
gloom. But, sir, spare them their prophets' spa ir delusions 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 115 

spare their prejudices and superstitions ! spare them even their reli- 
gion, such as it is, from open and cruel violence. When, sir, was 
that treaty concluded : On the veiy day, after the protocol was 
signed, of the fiist conference between the American and British com- 
missioners, treating of peace, at Ghent. In the course of that nego- 
tiation, pretensions so enormous were set up by the other party, that, 
when they were promulgated in this country, there was one general 
burst of indignation throughout the continent. Faction itself was 
silenced, and the firm and unanimous determination of all parties 
was, to right until the last man fell in the ditch, rather than submit 
to such ignominious terms. What a contrast is exhibited between 
the contemporaneous scenes of Ghent and of Fort Jackson ! what a 
powerful voucher would the British commissioners have been fur- 
nished with, if they could have got hold of that treat} ! The United 
States demand, the Unit 3 demand, is repeated five or six 

times. And what did the preamble itself disclose : That two-thirds 
cf the Creek Nation had been hostile, and one-third only friendly to 
us. Now I have heard, (I cannot vouch for the truth of the state- 
ment,) that not one hostile chief signed the treaty. I have also heard 
that perhaps one or two of them did. If the treaty were really made 
by a minority of the Nation, it was not obligatory upon the whole 
Nation. It was void, considered in the light of a national compact. 
And, if void, the Indians were entitled to the benefit of the provision 
of the ninth article of the treaty of Ghent, by which we bound our- 
selves to make peace with any tribes with whom we might be at war 
on the ratification of the treaty, and to restore to them their lar 
they held them in 1811. I do not know how the honorable Senate, 
that body for which I hold so high a respect, could have given their 
sanction to the treaty of Fort Jackson, so utterly irreconcilable as it 
is with those noble principles of generosity and magnanimity which I 
hope to see my country always exhibit, and particularly toAvard the 
miserable remnant of the Aborigines. It would have comported bet- 
ter with thos » principles, to have imitated the benevolent poli 
the founder of Pennsylvania, and to have given to the Creeks, con- 
quered as they were, even if they had made an unjust war upon us, 
the trifling consideration, to them an adequate compensation, which 

lid for their lai Is .1 treaty, I fear. ' .he mam < 

of the recent war. And, if it has been, it onlyKtds another m 
choly proof to those with which history ah . that hard 

asd unconscionable terms, extorted by the power of the w 



116 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAT. 

the right of conquest, serve but to whet and stimulate revenge, and 
to give old hostilities, smothered, not extinguished, by the pretended 
peace, greater exasperation and more ferocity. A truce, thus patch- 
ed up with an unfortunate people, without the means of existence, 
without bread, is no real peace. The instant there is the slightest 
prospect of relief from such harsh and severe conditions, the con- 
quered party will fly to arms, and spend the last drop of blood rather 
than live in such degraded bondage Even if you again reduce him 
to submission, the expenses incurred by this second war, to say noth- 
ing of the human lives that are sacrificed, will be greater than what 
it would have cost you to grant him liberal conditions in the first in- 
stance. This treaty, I repeat it, was, I apprehend, the cause of the 
war. It led to those excesses on our southern borders which began 
it. Who first commenced them, it is perhaps difficult to ascertain. 
There was, however, a paper on this subject, communicated at the 
last session by the President, that told, in language pathetic and feel- 
ing, an artless tale — a paper that carried such internal evidence, at 
least, of the belief of the authors of it that they were writing the 
truth, that I will ask the favor of the committee to allow me to 
read it. 

To the Commanding Officer at Fort Hawkins •• 
Dear Sir, 

Since the last war, after you sent word that we must quit the war, we, the red 
people, have come over on this side. The white people liave carried all the red peo- 
vle's cattle off. After the war, I sent to all my people to let the white people alone, 
and stay oil this side of the river ; and they "did so : but the white people still con- 
timted to carry off their cattle. Bernard's son was here, and I inquired of him what 
was to be done — and he said we must go to the head man of the white people and 
complain. I did so, and there was no head white man, and there was no law in this 
case. The whites first began, and there is nothing said about that ; but great com- 
plaint about what the Indians do. This is now three years since the white people 
killed three Indians — since that time they have killed three other Indians, and taken 
their horses, and what they had ; and this summer they killed three more ; and very 
lately they killed one more. We sent word to the white people that these murders 
were done, and the answer was, that they were people that were outlaws, and we 
ought to go and kill them. The white people killed our people first; the Indians 
then took satisfaction. There are yet three men that the red people have never ta- 
ken satisfaction for. You have wrote that there were houses burnt ; but we know 
i of no such thing being done : the truth in such cases ought' to be told, but this ap- 
pears otherwise. On that side of the river, the white people have killed five Indians ; 
but there is nothing said about that ; an*d all that the Indians have done is brought 
up. All the mischief the white people have done, ought to be told to their head man- 
When there is any thing done, you write to us ; but never write to your head man 
what the white people do. When the red people send talks, or write, they always 
send the tmth. You have sent to us for your horses, and we sent all that we eould 
find; but there were,, some dead. It appears that all the mischief is laid on this 
town ; but all the mischief that has been done by this town is two horses ; one of 
them is dead, and the other was sent back. The cattle that we are accused of ta- 
king were cattle that the white people took from us. Our young men went and brought 
»h»m back, with the same marks and brands. There were some of our young men 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR 117 

out hunting, and they were killed ; others went to take satisfaction, and the kettle 
of one of the men that was killed was found in the house where the woman and two 
children were killed ; and they supposed it had been her husband 'who had killed 
the Indians, and took their satisfaction there. We are accused of killing the Ame- 
ricans, and so on ; but since the word was sent to us that peace was made, we stay 
stead}- at home, and meddle with no person. You have sent to us respecting the 
black people on the Suwany river; we have nothing to do with them. They were 
put there by the English, and to them you ought to apply for any thing about them. 
We do not wish our country desolated by an army passing through it, for the con- 
cern of other people. The Indians have slaves there also; a great many of them. . 
When we have an opportunity we shall apply to the English for them, but we c«n 
aot get them now. 

This is what we have to say at present. 

Sir, I conclude by subscribing myself, 

Your humble servant, &c. 

September, the 11th day, 1817. 

N. B.— There are ten towns have read this letter, and this is the answer. 

A true copy of the original. Wm. Bell, Aid-de-camp. 

I should be very unwilling to assert, in regard to this war, that the 
fault was on our side ; I fear it was. I have heard that a very re- 
spectable gentleman, now no more, who once filled the executive 
chair of Georgia, and who, having been agent of Indian affairs in that 
quarter, had the best opportunity of judging of the origin of this war, 
deliberately pronounced it as his opinion that the Indians were not in 
fault. I am far from attributing to General Jackson any other than 
the very slight degree of blame that attaches to him as the negotiator of 
the treaty of Fort Jackson, and will be shared by those who subse- 
quently ratified and sanctioned that treaty. But if there be even a 
doubt as to the origin of the war, whether we were censurable or the 
Indians, that doubt Avill serve to increase our regret at any distressing 
incidents which may have occurred, and to mitigate, in some degree, the 
crimes which we impute to the other side. I know that when Gen- 
eral Jackson was summoned to the field, it was too late to hesitate — 
the fatal blow had been struck, in the destruction of Fowl-town, and 
the dreadful massacre of Lieutenant Scott and his detachment ; and 
the only duty which remained to him, was to terminate this unhappy 
contest. 

The first circumstance which, in the course of his performing that 
duty, fixed our attention, has filled me with regret. It was the exe- 
cution of the Indian chiefs. How, I ask, did they come into our 
possession ? Was it in the course of fair, and open, and honorable 
war ? No, but by means of deception — by hoisting foreign colors on 

40 



118 6PEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the staff from which the stars and stripes should alone have floated. 
Thus insnared, the Indians were taken on shore, and without oere- 
mony, and without delay, were hung. Hang an Indian ! We, sir, 
who are civilized, and can comprehend and feel the effect of moral 
causes and considerations, attach ignominy to that mode of death. 
And the gallant, and refined, and high-minded man, seeks by all pos- 
sible means to avoid it. But what cares an Indian whether you hang 
or shoot him ? The moment he is captured, he is considered by his 
tribe as disgraced, if not lost. They, too, are indifferent about the 
manner in which he is despatched. Bat I regard the occurrence 
with grief for other and higher considerations. It was the first in- 
stance that I know of, in the annals of our country, in which retalia- 
tion, by executing Indian captives, has ever been deliberately practised. 
There may have been exceptions, but if there are, they met with con- 
temporaneous condemnation, and have been reprehended by the just 
pen of impartial history. The gentleman from Massachusetts may 
tell me, if he chooses, what he pleases about the tomahawk and scalp- 
ing knife — about Indian enormities, and foreign miscreants and in- 
cendiaries. I, too, hate them ; from my very soul I abominate them. 
But I love my country, and its constitution ; I love liberty and safety, 
and fear military despotism more, even, than I hate these monsters. 
The gentleman, in the course of his remarks, alluded to the State 
from which I have the honor to come. Little, sir, does he know of 
the high and magnanimous sentiments of the people of that State, if 
he supposes they will approve of the transaction to which he referred. 
Brave and generous, humanity and clemency towards a fallen foe con- 
stitute* one of their noblest characteristics. Amidst all the struggles 
for that fair land between the natives and the present inhabitants, 1 
defy the gentleman to point out one instance in which a Kentuckian 
has stained h>jp hand by — nothing but my high sense of the distin- 
guished services and exalted merits of General Jackson prevents my 
using a different term— the execution of an unarmed and prostrate cap- 
tive. Yes, there is one solitary exception, in which a man, enraged at 
beholding an Indian prisoner, who had been celebrated for his enormities, 
and who had destroyed some of his kindred, plunged his sword into his 
bosom. The wicked deed was considered as an abominable outrage 
when it occurred, and the name of the man has been handed down to 
the execration of posterity. I deny your right thus to retaliate on 
the aboriginal proprietors of the country ; and unless I am utterly 
deceived, it may be shown that it does not exist. But before I at- 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 



119 



tempt this, allow me to make the gentleman from Massachusetts a 
little better acquainted with those people, to whose feelings and sym- 
pathies he has appealed through their representative. During the 
late war with Great Britain, Colonel Campbell, under the command 
of my honorable friend from Ohio, (General Harrison,) was placed at 
the head of a detachment consisting chiefly, I believe, of Kentucky 
volunteers, in order to destroy the Mississinaway towns. They pro- 
ceeded and performed the duty, and took some prisoners. And here 
is the evidence of the manner in which they treated them. 

" But the character of this gallant detachment, exhibiting, as it did, perseverance, 
fortitude, and bravery, would, however, be incomplete, if in the midst oi victory, 
they had forgotten the feelings of humanity. It is with the sincerest pleasure that 
the general has heard, that the most punctual obedience was paid to his orders, in 
-not only having all the women and children, but in sparing all tlic warriors who ceased 
to resist ; and that even when vigorously attacked by the enemy, the claims ol mercy 
prevailed over every sense cf their own danger, and this heroic band respected the 
lives of tlmir priso-aers. Let an account of murdered innocence be opened in the 
records of heaven agaiast our enemies alone. The American soldier will follow the 
example of his government, and the sword of the one will not be raised against the 
fallen and the helpless, nor the gold of the other be paid for scalps of a massacred 
enemy." 

I hope, sir, the honorable gentleman will now be able better to ap- 
preciate the character and conduct of my gallant countrymen than he 
appears hitherto to have done. 

But, sir, I have said that you have no right to practise, under color 
of retaliation, enormities on the Indians. I will advance in support 
of this position, as applicable to the origin of all law, the principle, 
that whatever has been the custom, from the commencement of a 
subject, whatever has been the uniform usage co-eval and co-exist- 
ent with the subject to which it relates, becomes its fixed law. Such 
is the foundation of all common law ; and such, I believe, is the prin- 
cipal foundation of all public or international law. If, then, it can be 
shown that from the first settlement of the colonies, on this part of 
the American continent, to the present time, we have constantly ab- 
stained from retaliating upon the Indians the excesses practised by 
them towards us, we are morally bound by this invariable usage, and 
cannot lawfully change it without the most cogent reasons So far 
as my knowledge extends, from the first settlement at Plymouth or 
at Jamestown, it has not been our practice to destroy Indian captives, 
combatants or non-combatants. I know of but one deviation from 
the code which regulates the warfare between civilized communities, 



120 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

and that was the destruction of Indian towns, which was supposed to 
be authorized upon the ground that we could not bring the war to a 
termination but by destroying the means which nourished it. With 
this single exception, the other principles of the laws of civilized na- 
tions are extended to them, and are thus made law in regard to them. 
When did this humane custom, by which, in consideration of their 
ignorance, and our enlightened condition, the rigors of war were mit- 
igated, begin ? At a time when we were weak, and they compara- 
tively strong — when they were the lords of the soil, and we were 
seeking, from the vices, from the corruptions, from the religious intol- 
erance, and from the oppressions of Europe, to gain an asylum among 
them. And when is it proposed to change this custom, to substitute 
for it the bloody maxims of barbarous ages, and to interpolate the In- 
dian public law with revolting cruelties ? At a time when the situa- 
tion of the two parties is totally changed — when we are powerful 
and they are weak — at a time when, to use a figure drawn from their 
own sublime eloquence, the poor children of the forest have been 
driven by the great wave which has flowed in from the Atlantic ocean 
almost to the base of the Rocky mountains, and, overwhelming them 
in its terrible progress, has left no other remains of hundreds of tribes 
now extinct, than those which indicate the remote existence of their 
former companion, the Mammoth of the New World ! Yes, sir, it 
is at this auspicious period of our country, when we hold a proud and 
lofty station among the first nations of the world, that we are called 
upon to sanction a departure from the established laws and usages 
which have regulated our Indian hostilities. And does the honorable 
gentleman from Massachusetts expect, in this august body, this en- 
lightened assembly of Christians and Americans, by glowing appeals 
to our passions, to make us forget our principles, our religion, our 
clemency, and our humanity ? Why is it that we have not practised 
towards the Indian tribes the right of retaliation, now for the first 
time asserted in regard to them ? It is because it is a principle pro- 
claimed by reason, and enforced by every respectable writer on the 
law of nations, that retaliation is only justifiable as calculated to pro- 
duce effect in the war. Vengeance is a new motive for resorting to 
it. If retaliation will produce no effect on the enemy, we are bound 
to abstain from it by every consideration of humanity and of justice, 
Will it, then, produce effect on the Indian tribes ? No — they care not 
about the execution of those of their warriors who are taken captive. 
They are considered as disgraced by the very circumstance of their 



on THE SEMINOLE WAR. 12J 

captivity, and it is often mercy to the unhappy captive to deprive 
him of his existence. The poet evinced a profound knowledge of the 
Indian character, when he put into the mouth of the son of a dis- 
tinguished chief, about to be led to the stake :md tortured by his victo 
rious enemy, the words : 

" Begin, ye tormentors ! your threats are in vain : 
The son of Alknomook will never complain." 

Retaliation of Indian excesses not producing then any effect in 
preventing their repetition, is condemned by both reason and the 
principles upon which alone, in any case, it can be justified. On this 
branch of the subject much more might be said, but as I shall possibly 
again allude to it, I will pass from it, lor the present, to another topic 

It is not necessary, for the purpose of my argument in regard to 
the trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, to insist on the 
innocency of either of them. I will yield for the sake of that argu- 
ment, without inquiry, that both of them were guilty ; that both had 
instigated the war ; and that one of them had led the enemy to bat- 
tle. It is possible, indeed, that a critical examination of the evidence 
would show, particularly in the case of Arbuthnot, that the whole 
amount of his crime consisted in his trading, without the limits of the 
United States, with the Seminole Indians, in the accustomed commodi- 
ties which form the subject of Indian trade, and that he sought to in- 
gratiate himself with his customers by espousing their interests, in 
regard to the provision of the treaty of Ghent, which he may have 
honestly believed entitled them to the restoration of their lands. And 
if, indeed, the treat} 7 of Fort Jackson, for the reasons already assign- 
ed, were not binding upon the Creeks, there would be but too much 
cause to lament his unhappy if not unjust fate. The first impression 
made on the examination of the proceedings in the trial and execu- 
tion of those two men is, that on the part of Ambrister there was the 
most guilt, but, at the same time, the most irregularity. Conceding 
the point of guilt of both, with the qualification which I have stated, 
I will proceed to inquire, first, if their execution can be justified upon 
the principles assumed by General Jackson himself. If they do not 
afford a justification, I will next inquire, if there be any other princi- 
ples authorizing their execution ; and I will in the third place make 
some other observations upon the mode of proceeding 



122 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLA?. 

The principle assumed by General Jackson, which may be found 
in his general orders commanding the execution of these men, is, 
" that it is an established principle of the law of nations, that any 
individual of a nation making war against the citizens of any other 
nation, they being at peace, forfeits his allegiance, and becomes an 
outlaw and a pirate." Whatever may be the character of individuals 
wao-in"- private war, the principle assumed is totally erroneous when 
applied to such individuals associated with a power, whether Indian 
or civilized, capable of maintaining the relations of peace and war. 
Suppose, however, the principle were true, as asserted, what dispo- 
sition should he have made of these men? What jurisdiction, and 
how acquired, has the military over pirates, robbers, and outlaws ? 
If they were in the character imputed, they were alone amenable, and 
should have been turned over to the civil authority. But the princi- 
ple, I repeat, is totally incorrect, when applied to men in their situ- 
ation. A foreigner connecting himself with a belligerent, becomes an 
enemy of the party to whom that belligerent is opposed, subject to 
whatever he may be subject, entitled to whatever he is entitled. Ar- 
buthnot and Ambrister, by associating themselves, became identified 
with the Indians ; they became our enemies, and we had a right to 
treat them as we could lawfully treat the Indians. These positions 
are so obviously correct, that I shall consider it an abuse of the pa- 
tience of the committee to consume time in their proof. They are 
supported by the practice of all nations, and of our own. Every page 
of history, in all times, and the recollection of every member, furnish 
evidence of their truth. Let us look for a moment into some of the 
consequences of this principle, if it were to go to Europe, sanctioned 
by the approbation, express or implied, of this House. We have now 
in our armies probably the subjects of almost every European power. 
Some of the nations of Europe maintain the doctrine of perpetual al- 
legiance. Suppose Britain and America in peace, and America and 
France at war. The former subjects of England, naturalized and 
unnaturalized, are captured by the navy or army of France. What 
is their condition ? According to the principle of General Jackson, 
they would be outlaws and pirates, and liable to immediate execution. 
Are gentlemen prepared to return to their respective districts with 
this doctrine in their mouths, and to say to their Irish, English, 
Scotch, and other foreign constituents, that they are liable, on the 
contingency supposed, to be treated as outlaws and pirates ? 



®N TIIK SEMINOLK WAK. 123 

Is there any other principle which justifies the proceedings ? On 
this subject, if I admire the wonderful ingenuity with which gentle- 
men seek a colorable pretext for those executions, 1 am at the same 
time shocked at some of the principles advanced. What said the 
honorable gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Holmes) in a cold 
address to the committee r Why, that these executions were only 
the wrong mode of doing a right thing. A wrong mode of doing a 
right thing ! In what code of public law ; in what system of ethics ; 
nay, in what respectable novel ; where, if the gentleman were to 
take the range of the whole literature of the world, will he find any 
sanction for a principle so monstrous r 1 will illustrate its enormity 
by a single case. Suppose a man, being guilty of robbery, is tried, con- 
demned, and executed for murder, upon an indictment for that rob- 
bery merely. The judge is arraigned for having executed, contrary 
to law, a human being, innocent at heart of the crime for which he 
was sentenced. The judge has nothing to do, to ensure his own ac- 
quittal, but to urge the gentleman's plea, that he had done a right 
thing in a wrong way ! 

The principles which attached to the cases of Arbuthnot and Am- 
brister, constituting them merely participes in the war, supposing 
them to have been combatants, which the former was not, he having 
been taken in a Spanish fortress, without arms in his hands, all that 
we could possibly have a right to do, was to apply to them the rules 
which we had a right to enforce against the Indians. Their English 
character was only merged in their Indian character. Now, if the 
law regulating Indian hostilities be established by long and imme- 
morial usage, that we have no moral right to retaliate upon them, w r e 
consequently had no right to retaliate upon Arbuthnot and Ambrister. 
Even if it were admitted that, in regard to future wars, and to other 
foreigners, their execution may have a good effect, it would not thence 
follow that you had a right to execute, them. It is not always just 
to do what may he advantageous. And retaliation, during a war, 
must have relation to the events of that war, and must, to be just, 
have an operation on that war, and upon the individuals only who 
compose the belligerent party. It becomes gentlemen, then, on the 
other side, to show, by some known, certain, and recognised rule of 
public or municipal law, that the execution of these men was justified. 
Where is it ? I should be glad to see it. We are told in a paper 
emanating from the departme nt of state, recently laid before this House, 



124 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

distinguished for the fervor of its eloquence, and of which the honor- 
able gentleman from Massachusetts has supplied us in part with a 
second edition, in one respect agreeing with *he prototype, that they 
both ought to be inscribed to the American public — we arc justly told 
in that paper, that this is the first instance of the execution of persons 
for the crime of instigating Indians to war. Sir, there are two topics 
which, in Europe, are constantly employed by the friends and min- 
ions of legitimacy against our country. The one is an inordinate 
spirit of aggrandizement — of coveting other people's goods ; the 
other is the treatment which we extend to the Indians. Against both 
these charges, the public servants who conducted at Ghent the nego- 
tiations with the British commissioners, endeavored to vindicate our 
country, and I hope with some degree of success. What will be the 
condition of future American negotiators, when pressed upon this 
head, I know not, after the unhappy executions on our southern bor- 
der. The gentleman from Massachusetts seemed yesterday to read, 
with a sort of triumph, the names of the commissioners employed in 
the negotiation at Ghent. Will be excuse me for saying, that I 
thought he pronounced, even with more complacency, and with a 
more gracious smile, the lirst name in the commission, than he em- 
phasized that of the humble individual who addresses you. 

[M*. Holmes desired to explain.] 
There is no occasion for explanation ; I am perfectly satisfied. 

[Mr. Holmes, however, proceeded to say that his intention was, in pronouncing 
the gentleman's name, to add to the respect due to the negotiator that which was 
due to the Speaker of this House.] 

To return to the case of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. Will the prin- 
ciple of these men having been the instigators of the war, justify their 
execution ? It is a new one ; there are no landmarks to guide us in 
its adoption, or to prescribe limits in its application. If William Pitt 
had been taken by the French army, during the late European war, 
could France have justifiably executed him on the ground of his hav- 
ing notoriously instigated the continental powers to war against 
France ? Would France, if she had stained her character by execu- 
ting him, have obtained the sanction of the world to the act, by ap 
peals to the passions and prejudices, by pointing to the cities sacked, 
the countries laid waste, the human lives sacrificed in the wars which 
he had kindled, and by exclaiming to the unfortunate captive. You ! 



OM THE SEMINOLE WAR. 125 

miscreant, monster, have occasioned all these scenes of devastation 
and blood ? What has been the conduct even of England towards 
the greatest instigator of all the wars of the present age ? The con- 
demnation of that illustrious man to the rock of St. Helena, is a great 
blot on the English name. And I repeat what I have before said, 
that if Chatham, or Fox, or even William Pitt himself, had been 
prime minister in England, Bonaparte had never been so condemned. 
On that transaction history will one day pass its severe but just cen- 
sure. Yes, although Napoleon had desolated half Europe ; although 
there was scarcely a power, however humble, that escaped the 
mighty grasp of his ambition ; although in the course of his splendid 
career he is charged with having committed the greatest atrocities, 
disgraceful to himself and to human nature, yet even his life has been 
spared. The allies would not, England would not, execute him upon 
the ground of his being an instigator of wars. 

The mode of the trial and sentencing these men was equally objec- 
tionable with the principles on which it has been attempted to prove 
a forfeiture of their lives. I know the laudable spirit which prompt- 
ed the ingenuity displayed in finding out a justification for these pro- 
ceedings. I wish most sincerely that I could reconcile them to my 
conscience. It has been attempted to vindicate the General upon 
grounds which I am persuaded he would himself disown. It has 
been asserted, that he was guilty of a mistake in calling upon the 
court to try thetn, and that he might have at once ordered their exe- 
cution, without that formality. I deny that there was any such ab- 
solute right in the commander of any portion of our army. The right 
of retaliation is an attribute of sovereignty. It is comprehended in 
the war-making power that Congress possesses. It belongs to this 
body not only to declare war, but to raise armies, and to make rules 
and regulations for their government. It is in vain for gentlemen to 
look to the law of nations for instances in which retaliation is lawful. 
The laws of nations merely lay down the principle or rule ; it belongs 
to the government to constitute the tribunal for applying that princi- 
ple or rule. There is, for example, no instance in which the death of 
a captive is more certainly declared by the law of nations to be justifi- 
able, than in the case of spies. Congress has accordingly provided, 
in the rules and articles of war, a tribunal for the trial of spies, and 
consequently for the application of the principle of the national law. 
The legislature has not left the power over spies undefined, to the 

41 



126 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

mere discretion of the commander-in-chief, or of any subaltern officer 
in the army. For, if the doctrines now contended for were true, they 
would apply to the commander of any corps, however small, acting 
as a detachment. Suppose Congress had not legislated in the case of 
spies, what would have been their condition ? It would have been 
a casus omissus, and although the public law pronounced their doom, 
it could not be executed, because Congress had assigned no tribunal 
for enforcing that public law. No man can be executed in this free 
country without two things being shown : 1st, That the law con- 
demns him to death ; and 2d, That his death is pronounced by that 
tribunal which is authorized by the law to try him. These principles 
will reach every man's case, native or foreign, citizen or alien. The 
instant quarters are granted to a prisoner, the majesty of the law sur- 
rounds and sustains him, and he cannot be lawfully punished with 
death without the concurrence of the two circumstances just insisted 
upon. I deny that any commander-in-chief, in this country, has this 
absolute power of life and death, at his sole discretion. It is contrary 
to the genius of all our laws and institutions. To concentrate in the 
person of one individual the powers to make the rule, to judge and to 
execute the rule, or to judge and execute the rule only, is utterly 
irreconcilable with every principle of free government, and is the very 
definition of tyranny itself ; and I trust that this House will never 
give even a tacit assent to sueh»a principle. Suppose the commander 
had made even reprisals on property, would that property have be- 
longed to the nation, or could he have disposed of it as he pleased ? 
Had he more power, will gentlemen tell me, over the lives of human 
beings than over property ? The assertion of such a power to the 
commander-in-chief is contrary to the practice of the government. 
By an act of Congress which passed in 1799, vesting the power of 
retaliation in certain cases in the President of the United States — an 
act which passed during the quasi war with France, the President is 
authorized to retaliate upon any of the citizens of the French repub- 
lic, the enormities which may be practised, in certain cases, upon our 
citizens. Under what administration was this act passed ? It was 
under that which has been justly charged with stretching the consti- 
tution to enlarge the executive powers. Even during the mad career 
of Mr. Adams, when every means was resorted to for the purpose or 
infusing vigor into the executive arm, no one thought of claiming for 
him the inherent right of retaliation. I will not trouble the House 
with reading another law, which passed thirteen or fourteeD years 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 1JJ7 

after, during the late war with Great Britain, under the administra- 
tion of that great constitutional President, the father of the instrument 
itself, by which Mr. Madison was empowered to retaliate on the 
British in certain instances. It is not only contrary to the genius of 
our institutions, and to the uniform practice of the government, but it 
is contrary to the obvious principles on which the General himself 
proceeded ; for, in forming the court, he evidently intended to pro- 
ceed under the rules and articles of war. The extreme number which 
they provide for is thirteen, precisely that which is detailed in the 
present instance. The court proceeded not by a bare plurality, but 
by a majority of two- thirds. In the general orders issued from the 
Adjutant General's office, at head quarters, it is described as a court- 
martial. The prisoners are said, in those orders, to have been tried 
" on the following charges and specifications.^ The court understood 
itself to be acting as a court-martial. It w r as so organized, it so pro- 
ceeded, having a judge-advocate, hearing witnesses, and the written 
defence of the miserable trembling prisoners, who seemed to have a 
presentiment of their doom. And the court was finally dissolved 
The whole proceeding manifestly shows, that all parties considered it 
as a court-martial, convened and acting under the rules and articles 
of war. In his letter to the Secretary of War, noticing the transac- 
tion, the General says : " These individuals were tried under my or- 
ders, legally convicted as exciters of this savage and negro war, 
legally condemned, and most justly punished for their iniquities." 
The Lord deliver us from such legal conviction, and such legal con- 
demnation ! The General himself considered the laws of his country 
to have justified his proceedings. It is in vain then to talk of a pow- 
er in him beyond the law, and above the law, when he himself does 
not assert it. Let it be conceded that he was clothed with absolute 
authority over the lives of those individuals, and that, upon his own 
fiat, without trial, without defence, he might have commanded their 
execution. Now, if an absolute sovereign, in any particular respect 
promulgates a rule, which he pledges himself to observe, if he subse- 
quently deviates from that rule, lie subjects himself to the imputation 
of odious tyranny. If General Jackson had the power, without a 
court, to condemn these men, he had also the power to appoint a tri- 
bunal. He did appoint a tribunal, and became, therefore, morally 
bound to observe and execute the sentence of that tribunal. In re- 
gard to Ambrister, it is with grief and pain I am compelled to say, that 
he was executed in defiance of all law ; in defiance of the law to 



123 SPKECHES OF HEHRT CLAT. 

which General Jackson had voluntarily, if you please, submitted 
himself, and given, by his appeal to the court, his implied pledge to 
observe. I know but little of military law, and what has happened, 
has certainly not created in me a taste for acquiring a knowledge of 
more ; but I believe there is no example on record, where the sen- 
tence of the court has been erased, and a sentence not pronounced by 
it carried into execution. It has been suggested that the court had 
pronounced two sentences, and that the General had a right to select 
either. Two sentences! Two verdicts! Itwasnotso. The first 
being revoked, was as though it had never been pronounced. And 
there remained only one sentence, which was put aside upon the sole 
authority of the commander, and the execution of the prisoner order- 
ed. He either had or had not a right to decide upon the fate of that 
man, with the intervention of a court. If he had the right, he waiv- 
ed it, and having violated the sentence of the court, there was brought 
upon the judicial administration of the army a reproach, which must 
occasion the most lasting regret. 

However guilty these men were, they should not have been con- 
demned or executed without the authority of the law. I will not 
dwell, at this time, on the effect of these precedents in foreign coun- 
tries ; but I shall not pass unnoticed their dangerous influence in our 
own country. Bad examples are generally set in the cases of bad 
men, and often remote from the central government. It was in the 
provinces that were laid the abuses and the seeds of the ambitious pro- 
jects which overturned the liberties of Rome. I beseech the com- 
mittee not to be so captivated with the charms of eloquence, and the 
appeals made to our passions and our sympathies, as to forget the fun- 
damental principles of our government. The influence of a bad ex- 
ample will often be felt, when its authors and all the circumstances 
connected with it are no longer remembered. I know of but one 
analogous instance of the execution of a prisoner, and that has brought 
more odium than almost any other incident on the unhappy emperor 
of France. I allude to the instance of the execution of the unfortu- 
nate member of the Bourbon house. He sought an asylum in the 
territories of Baden. Bonaparte despatched a corps of gen-d'armes 
to the place of his retreat, seized him, and brought him to the dun- 
geons of Vincennes. He was there tried by a court-martial, con- 
demned, and shot. There, as here, was a violation of neutral territo- 
ry ; there the neutral ground was not stained with the blood of hint 



OK THE BEMrNOLE WAR. 129 

whom it should have protected. And there is another most unfortu- 
nate difference for the American people. The Duke D'Engheia was 
executed according to his sentence. It is said by the defenders of 
Napoleon, that the duke had been machinating not merely to over- 
turn the French government, but against the life of its chief. If that 
were true, he might, if taken in France, have been legally executed. 
Such was the odium brought upon the instruments of this transac- 
tion, that those persons who have been even suspected of participa- 
tion in it, have sought to vindicate themselves from what they appear 
to have considered as an aspersion, before foreign courts. In conclu- 
sion of this part of my subject, I most cheerfully and entirely acquit 
General Jackson of any intention to violate the laws of the country, 
or the obligations of humanity. I am persuaded, from all that I have 
heard, that he considered himself as equally respecting and observing 
both. With respect to the purity of his intentions, therefore, I am 
disposed to allow it in the most extensive degree. Of his acts, it is 
my duty to speak with the freedom which belongs to my station 
And I shall now proceed to consider some of them, of the most mo- 
mentous character, as it regards the distribution of the powers of 
government. 

Of all the powers conferred by the constitution of the United State*, 
not one is more expressly and exclusively granted than that which 
gives to Congress the power to declare war. The immortal conven- 
tion who formed that instrument, had abundant reason, drawn from 
every page of history, for confiding this tremendous power to the de- 
liberate judgment of the representatives of the people. It was there 
seen that nations are often precipitated into ruinous war from folly, 
from pride, from ambition, and from the desire of military fame. It 
was believed, no doubt, in committing this great subject to the legis- 
lature of the Union, we should be safe from the mad wars that have 
afflicted, and desolated, and ruined other countries. It was supposed 
that before any war was declared, the nature of the injury complained 
of would be carefully examined, and the power and resources of the 
enemy estimated, and the power and resources of our own country, as 
well as the probable issue and consequences of the war. It was to 
guard our country against precisely that species of rashness which 
has been manifested in Florida, that the constitution was so framed. 
If, then, this power, thus cautiously and clearly bestowed upon Con- 
gress, has been assumed and exercised by any other functionary of 



130 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY 

the government, it is cause of serious alarm, and it becomes this body 
to vindicate and maintain its authority by all the means in its power ; 
and yet there are some gentlemen, who would have us not merely to 
yield a tame and silent acquiescence in the encroachment, but even 
to pass a vote of thanks to the author. 

On the twenty-fifth of March, 1818, the President of the United 
States communicated a message to Congress in relation to the Sem- 
inole war, in which he declared that although, in the prosecution of it, 
orders had been given to pass into the Spanish territory, they were so 
guarded as that the local authorities of Spain should be respected. 
How respected ? The President, by the documents accompanying the 
message, the orders themselves which issued from the department 
of war to the commanding general, had assured the legislature that, 
even if the enemy should take shelter under a Spanish fortress, the 
fortress was not to be attacked, but the fact to be reported to that de- 
partment for further orders. Congress saw, therefore, that there was 
no danger of violating the existing peace. And yet, on the same 
twenty-fifth day of March, (a most singular concurrence of dates,) 
when the representatives of the people received this solemn message, 
announced in the presence of the nation and in the face of the world, 
and in the midst of a friendly negotiation with Spain, does General 
Jackson write from his head-quarters, that he shall take St. Marks as 
a necessary depot for his military operations ! The General states, 
in his letter, what he had heard about the threat on the part of the 
Indians and Negroes, to occupy the fort, and declares his purpose to 
possess himself of it, in either of the two contingencies, of its being 
in their hands, or in the hands of the Spaniards. He assumed a right 
to judge what Spain was bound to do by her treaty, and judged very 
correctly ; but then he also assumed the power, belonging to Con- 
gress alone, of determining what should be the effect and consequence 
of her breach of engagement. General Jackson generally performs 
what he intimates his intention to do. Accordingly, finding St. Marks 
yet in the hands of the Spaniards, he seized and occupied it. Was 
ever, I ask, the just confidence of the legislative body, in the assu- 
rances of the chief magistrate, more abused ? The Spanish com- 
mander intimated his willingness that the American army should take 
post near him, until he could have instructions from his superior ol- 
ficer, and promised to maintain in the mean time the most friendly re- 
lations. No ! St. Marks was a convenient post for the American 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 131 

army, and delay was inadmissible. I have always understood that 
the Indians but rarely take or defend fortresses, because they are 
unskilled in the modes of attack and defence. The threat, therefore, 
on their part, to seize on St. Marks must have been empty, and would 
probably have been impossible. At all events, when General Jack- 
son arrived there, no danger any longer threatened the Spaniards 
from the miserable fugitive Indians, who fled on all sides upon his 
approach. And, sir, upon what plea is this violation of orders, and 
this act of war upon a foreign power, attempted to be justified ? 
Upon the grounds of the convenieney of the depot and the Indian 
threat. The first I will not seriously examine and expose. If the 
Spanish character of the fort had been totally merged in the Indian 
character, it might have been justifiable to seize it. But that was 
not the fact, and the bare possibility of its being forcibly taken by 
the Indians, could not justify our anticipating their blow. Of all 
the odious transactions which occurred during the late war between 
France and England, none was more condemned in Europe and in 
this country, than her seizure of the fleet of Denmark at Copenhagen. 
And I lament to be obliged to notice the analogy which exists in the 
defences made of the two cases. If my recollection does not deceive 
me, Bonaparte had passed the Rhine and the Alps, had conquered 
Italy, the Netherlands, Holland, Hanover, Lubec, and Hamburg, 
and extended his empire as far as Altona on the side of Denmark. 
A few days' march would have carrried him through Holstein, over 
the two Belts, through Funen, and into the island of Zealand. What 
then was the conduct of England ? It was my lot to fall into con- 
versation with an intelligent Englishman on this subject. u We 
knew (said he) that we were fighting for our existence. It was ab- 
solutely necessary that we should preserve the command of the seas. 
If the fleet of Denmark fell into the enemy's hands, combined with 
his other fleets, that command might be rendered doubtful. Den- 
mark had ouly a nominal independence. She was, in truth, subject 
to his sway. We said to her, Give us your fleet ; it will otherwise 
be taken possession of by your secret and our open enemy. We will 
preserve it, and restore it to you whenever the danger shall be over. 
Denmark refused. Copenhagen was bombarded, gallantly defended, 
but the fleet was seized." Every where the conduct of England was 
censured ; and the name even of the negotiator who was employed 
by her, who was subsequently the minister near this government, 
was scarcely ev4r pronounced here without coupling with it an epi- 



132 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

thet indicating his participation in the disgraceful transaction. And 
yet we are going to sanction acts of violence, committed by ourselves, 
•which but too much resemble it ! What an important difference, too, 
between the relative condition of England and of this country ! She 
perhaps was struggling for her existence. She was combating, single- 
handed, the most enormous military power that the world has ever 
known. With whom were we contending ? With a few half-starved, 
half-clothed, wretched Indians, and fugitive slaves. And, whilst car- 
rying on this inglorious war, — inglorious as it regards the laurels or 
renown won in it, — we violate neutral rights, which the government 
had solemnly pledged itself to respect, upon the principle of conven- 
ience, or upon the light presumption that, by possibility, a post might 
be taken by this miserable combination of Indians and slaves. 

On the 8th of April, the General writes from St. Marks, that he 
shall march for the Suwaney river ; the destroying of the establish- 
ments on which will, in his opinion, bring the war to a close. Ac- 
cordingly, having effected that object, he writes, on the 20th of April, 
that he believes he may say that the war is at an end for the present. 
He repeats the same opinion in his letter to the Secretary of War, 
written six days after. The war being thus ended, it might have 
been hoped that no further hostilities would be committed. But on 
the 23d of May, on his way home, he receives a letter from the com- 
mandant of Pensacola, intimating his surprise at the invasion of the 
Spanish territory, and the acts of hostility performed by the American 
army, and his determination, if persisted in, to employ force to repel 
them. Let us pause and examine this proceeding of the governor, 
so very hostile and affrontive in the view of General Jackson. Re- 
collect that he was governor of Florida ; that he had received no or- 
ders from his superiors, to allow a passage to the American army ; 
that he had heard of the reduction of St. Marks ; and that General 
Jackson, at the head of his army, was approaching in the direction of 
Pensacola. He had seen the President's message of the 25th of 
, ; March, and reminded General Jackson of it, to satisfy him that the 
American government could not have authorized all those measures. 
I cannot read the allusion made by the governor to that message, 
without feeling that the charge of insincerity, which it implied, had 
at least but too much the appearance of truth in it. Could the gov- 
ernor have done less than write some such letter ? We have only 
to reverse situations, and to suppose him to have been an American 



ON THE SEMINOLE WAR. 133 

governor. General Jackson says, that when he received that letter, 
he no longer hesitated. No sir, he did no longer hesitate. He received 
it on the 23d, he was in Pensacola on the 24th, and immediately after 
set himself before the fortress of San Carlos de Barancas, which he 
shortly reduced. Few, vidi, vici. Wonderful energy ! Admirable 
promptitude. Alas, that it had not been an energy and a promptitude 
within the pale of the constitution, and according to the orders of the 
chief magistrate. It is impossible to give any definition of war, that 
would not comprehend these acts. It was open, undisguised, and 
unauthorized hostility. 

The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts has endeavored to 
derive some authority to General Jackson from the message of the 
President, and the letter of the Secretary of War to Governor Bibb. 
The message declares, that the Spanish authorities are to be respect- 
ed wherever maintained. What the President means by their being 
maintained, is explained in the orders themselves, by the extreme 
case being put of the enemy seeking shelter under a Spanish fort. If 
even in that case he was not to attack, certainly he was not to attack 
in any case of less strength. The letter to Governor Bibb admits of 
a similar explanation. When the Secretary says, in that letter, that 
General Jackson is fully empowered to bring the Seminole war to a 
conclusion, he means that he is so empowered by his orders, which, 
being now before us, must speak for themselves. It does not appear 
that General Jackson ever saw that letter, which was dated at this 
place after the capture of St. Marks. I will take a momentary glance 
at the orders. On the 2d of December, 1817, General Gaines was 
forbidden to cross the Florida line. Seven days after, the Secretary 
of War having arrived here, and infused a little more energy into our 
councils, he was authorized to use a sound discretion in crossing or 
not. On the 16th, he was instructed again to consider himself at 
liberty to cross the line, and pursue the enemy ; but, if he took refuge 
under a Spanish fortress, the fact icas to be reported to the department 
of war. These orders were transmitted to General Jackson, and con- 
stituted, or ought to have constituted, his guide. There was then 
no justification for the occupation of Pensacola, and the attack on the 
Barancas, in the message of the President, the letter to Governor 
Bibb, or in the orders themselves. The gentleman from Massachu- 
setts will pardon me for saying, that he has undertaken what even his 
talents are not competent to — the maintenance of directly contradic- 



134 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

tory propositions, that it was right in General Jackson to take Pen- 
sacola, and wrong in the President to keep it. The gentleman has 
made a greater mistake than he supposes General Jackson to have 
done in attacking Pensacola for an Indian town, by attempting the 
defence both of the President and General Jackson. If it were right 
in him to seize the place, it is impossible that it should have been 
right in the President immediately to surrender it. We, sir, are the 
supporters of the President. We regret that we cannot support Gen«- 
eral Jackson also. The gentleman's liberality is more comprehensive 
than ours. I approve with all my heart of the restoration of Pensa- 
cola. I think St. Marks ought, perhaps, to have been also restored ; 
but I say this with doubt and diffidence. That the President thought 
the seizure of the Spanish posts was an act of war, is manifest from 
his opening message, in which he says that, to have retained them, 
would have changed our relations with Spain, to do which the power 
of the executive was incompetent, Congress alone possessing it. 
The Pesident has, in this instance, deserved well of his country. He 
has taken the only course which he could have pursued, consistent 
with the constitution of the land. And I defy the gentleman to make 
good both his positions, that the General was right in taking, and the 
President right in giving up the posts. 

[Mr. Holmes explained. We took these posts, he said, to keep them from the 
hands of the enemy, and, in restoring them, made it a condition that Spain should 
not let our enemy have them. We said to her, Here is your dagger ; we found it in 
the hands of our enemy, and, having wrested it from him, we restore it to you, in 
the hope that you will take better care of it for the future.] 

The gentleman from Massachusetts is truly unfortunate ; fact or 
principle is always against him. The Spanish posts were not in the 
possession of the enemy. One old Indian only was found in the Ba- 
rancas, none in Pensacola, none in St. Marks. There was not even 
the color of a threat of Indian occupation as it regards Pensacola and 
the Barancas. Pensacola was to be restored unconditionally, and 
might, therefore, immediately have come into the possession of the 
Indians, if they had the power and the will to take it. The gentle- 
man is in a dilemma, from which there is no escape. He gave up 
General Jackson when he supported the President, and gave up the 
President when he supported General Jackson. I rejoice to have 
seen the President manifesting, by the restoration of Pensacola, his 
devotedness to the constitution. When the whole country was ring- 
ing with plaudits for its capture, I said, and I said alone, in the limited 



ON THE SEMINOLB WAR. 135 

circle sn which I moved, that the President must surrender it ; that 
he could not hold it. It is not my intention to inquire, whether the 
army was or was not constitutionally marched into Florida. It is 
not a clear question, and I am inclined to think that the express au- 
thority of Congress ought to have been asked. The gentleman from 
Massachusetts will allow me to refer to a part of the correspondence 
at Ghent different from that which he has quoted. He will find the 
condition of the Indians there accurately defined. And it is widely 
variant from the gentleman's ideas on this subject. The Indians, in- 
habiting the United States, according to the statement of the Amer- 
ican commissioners at Ghent, have a qualified sovereignty only, the 
supreme sovereignty residing in the government of the United States. 
They live under their own laws and customs, may inhabit and hunt 
their lands ; but acknowledge the protection of the United States, 
and have no right to sell their lands but to the government of the 
United States. Foreign powers or foreign subjects have no right 
to maintain any intercourse with them, without our permission. They 
are net, therefore, independent nations, as the gentleman supposes. 
Maintaining the relation described with them, we must allow a simi- 
lar relation to exist between Spain and the Indians residing within 
her dominions. She must be, therefore, regarded as the sovereign of 
Florida, and we are, accordingly, treating with her for the purchase 
of it. In strictness, then, we ought first to have demanded of her to 
restrain the Indians, and, that failing, we should have demanded a 
right of passage for our army. But, if the President had the power 
to march an army into Florida, without consulting Spain, and with- 
out the authority of Congress, he had no power to authorize any act 
of hostility against her. If the gentleman had even succeeded in 
showing that an authority was conveyed by the executive to General 
Jackson to take the Spanish posts, he would only have established 
that unconstitutional orders had been given, and thereby transferred 
the disapprobation from the military officer to the executive. But no 
such orders were, in truth, given. The President acted in conformity 
4.0 the constitution, when he forbade the attack of a Spanish fort, and 
when, in the same spirit, he surrendered the posts themselves. 

I will not trespass much longer upon the time of the committee ; 
but I trust I shall be indulged with some few reflections upon the 
dangtr of permitting the conduct on which it has been my painful 
duty tc animadvert, to pass without a solemn expression of the dis- 



136 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

approbation of this House. Recall to your recollection the fr$e na 
tkms which have gone before us. Where are they now ? 

" Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were, 
A school-boy's tale, the wonder of an hour." 

And how have they lost their liberties ? If we could transport our 
selves back to the ages when Greece and Rome flourished in their 
greatest prosperity, and, mingling in the throng, should ask a Gre- 
cian if he did not fear that some daring military chieftain, covered 
with glory, some Philip or Alexander, would one day overthrow the 
liberties of his country, the confident and indignant Grecian would 
exclaim, No ! no ! we have nothing to fear from our heroes ; our lib- 
erties will be eternal. If a Roman citizen had been asked, if he did 
not fear that the conqueror of Gaul might establish a throne upon the 
ruins of public liberty, he would have instantly repelled the unjust 
insinuation. Yet Greece fell, Caesar passed the Rubicon, and the 
patriotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of his 
devoted country ! The celebrated Madame de Stael, in her last and 
perhaps her best work, has said, that in the very year, almost the 
very month, when the President of the Directory declared that mon- 
archy would never more show its frightful head in France, Bonaparte, 
with his grenadiers, entered the palace of St. Cloud, and dispersing, 
with the bayonet, the deputies of the people, deliberating on the 
affairs of the state, laid the foundation of that vast fabric of despotism 
which overshadowed all Europe. I hope not to be misunderstood ; 
I am far from intimating that General Jackson cherishes any designs 
inimical to the liberties of the country. I believe his intentions to be 
pure and patriotic. I thank God that he would not, but I thank him 
still more that he could not, if he would, overturn the liberties of the 
republic. But precedents, if bad, are fraught with the most danger- 
ous consequences. Man has been described, by some of those who 
have treated of his nature, as a bundle of habits. The definition is 
much truer when applied to governments. Precedents are their 
habits. There is one important difference between the formation of 
habits by an individual and by governments. He contracts it only 
after frequent repetition. A single instance fixes the habit and deter- 
mines the direction of governments. Against the alarming doctrine 
of unlimited discretion in our military commanders, when applied 
even to prisoners of war, I must enter my protest. It begins upon 
them ; it will end on U6. I hope our happy form of government is 

« 



OX THE SEMINOLE WAR. 137 

to be perpetual. But, if it is to be preserved, it must be by the prac- 
tice of virtue, by justice, by moderation, by magnanimity, by great- 
ness of soul, by keeping a watchful and steady eye on the executive; 
and, above all, by holding to a strict accountability the military branch 
of the public force. 

We are fighting a great moral battle, for the benefit not only of our 
country, but of all mankind. The eyes of the whole world are in 
fixed attention upon (is. One, and the largest portion of it, is gazing 
with contempt, with jealousy, and with envy ; the other portion, with 
hope, with confidence, and with affection. Everywhere the black 
cloud of legitimacy is suspended over the world, save only one bright 
spot, which breaks out from the political hemisphere of the West, to 
enlighten, and animate, and gladden the human heart. Obscure that, 
by the downfall of liberty here, and all mankind are enshrouded in a 
pall of universal darkness. To you, Mr. Chairman, belongs the high 
privilege of transmitting, unimpaired, to posterity, the fair character 
and liberty of our country. Do you expect to execute this high 
trust, by trampling, or suffering to be trampled down, law, justice, 
the constitution, and the rights of the people ? By exhibiting exam- 
ples of inhumanity, and cruelty, and ambition ? When the minions 
of despotism heard, in Europe, of the seizure of Pensacola, how did 
they chuckle, and chide the admirers of our institutions, tauntingly 
pointing to the demonstration of a spirit of injustice and aggrandize- 
ment made by our country, in the midst of an amicable negotiation. 
Behold, said they, the conduct of those who are constantly reproach- 
ing kings. You saw how those admirers were astounded and hung 
their heads. You saw, too, when that illustrious man, who presides 
over us, adopted his pacific, moderate, and just course, how they 
once more lifted up their heads with exultation and delight beam- 
ing in their countenances. And you saw how those minions them- 
selves were finally compelled to unite in the general praises be- 
stowed upon our government. Beware how you forfeit this exalted 
character. Beware how you give a fatal sanction, in this infant pe- 
riod of our republic, scarcely yet twoscore years old, to military in- 
subordination. Remember that Greece had her Alexander, Rome 
her Ciesar, England her Cromwell, France her Bonaparte, and that 
if we would escape the rock on which they split we must avoid their 
errors. 



138 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

How different has been the treatment of General Jackson, and that 
modest but heroic young man, a native of one of the smallest States 
in the Union, who achieved for his country, on Lake Erie, one of 
the most glorious victories of the late war. In a moment of passion 
he forgot himself, and offered an act of violence which was repented 
of as soon as perpetrated. He was tried, and suffered the judgment 

pronounced by his peers. Public justice was thought not even 
then to be satisfied. The press and Congress took up the subject. 
My honorable friend from Virginia, (Mr. Minson,) the faithful and 
consistent sentinel of the law and of the constitution, disapproved in 
that instance, as he does in this, and moved an inquiry. The public 
mind remained agitated and unappeased until the recent atonement 
so honorably made by the gallant commodore. And is there to be a 
distinction between the officers of the two branches of the public ser- 
vice ? Are former services, however eminent, to preclude even in- 
quiry into recent misconduct ? Is there to be no limit, no prudential 
bounds to the national gratitude ? I am not disposed to censure the 
President for not ordering a court of inquiry or a general court-mar- 
tial. Perhaps, impelled by a sense of gratitude, he determined by 
anticipation to extend to the General that pardon which he had the 
undoubted right to grant after sentence. Let us not shrink from our 
duty. Let us assert our constitutional powers, and vindicate the 
instrument from military violation. 

I hope gentlemen will deliberately survey the awful isthmus on 
which we stand. They may bear down all opposition ; they may 
even vote the General the public thanks ; they may carry him tri- 
umphantly through this House. But, if they do, in my humble 
judgment, it will be a triumph of the principle of insubordination — 
a triumph of the military over the civil authority— a triumph over 
the powers of this House — a triumph over the constitution of the 
land. And I pray most devoutly to Heaven, that it may not prove, 
in its ultimate effects and consequences, a triumph over the liberties 
of the people. 



ON PROTECTION TO HOME INDUSTRY. 

In the House of Representatives, April 26, 1820. 



[The bill to protect and foster the Productive Labor of the United States, by im 
posing higher duties on the importation of Foreign Goods, especially Manufactures, 
being under consideration in Committee of the Whole. Mr. Clay addressed the 
Committee as follows :] 

Mr. Chairman : — Whatever may be the value of my opinions on 
the interesting subject now before us, they have not been hastily 
formed. It may possibly be recollected by some gentlemen, that I 
expressed them when the existing tariff was adopted ; and that I 
then urged, that the period of the termination of the war, during 
which the manufacturing industry of the country had received a 
powerful spring, was precisely that period when government was 
alike impelled, by duty and interest, to protect it against the free 
admission of foreign fabrics, consequent upon a state of peace. I 
insisted, on that occasion, that a less measure of protection would 
prove more efficacious, at that time, than one of greater extent at a 
future day. My wishes prevailed only in part; and we are now 
called upon to decide whether we will correct the error which, I 
think, we then committed. 

In considering the subject, the first important inquiry that we 
•hould make is, whether it be desirable that such a portion of the 
capital and labor of the country should be employed, in the business 
of manufacturing, as would furnish, a supply of our necessary wants : 
Since the first colonization of America, the principal direction of the 
labor and capital of the inhabitants has been to produce raw materials 
for the consumption or fabrication of foreign nations. We have al- 
ways had, in great abundance, the means of subsistence, but we have 
derived chiefly from other countries our clothes, and the instruments 



140 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

of defence. Except during those interruptions of commerce arising 
from a state of war, 01 from measures adopted for vindicating our 
commercial rights, we have experienced no very great inconvenience 
heretofore from this mode of supply. The limited amount of our 
surplus produce, resulting from the smallness of our numbers, and 
the long and arduous convulsions of Europe, secured us good mar- 
kets for that surplus in her ports or those of her colonies. But those 
convulsions have now ceased, and our population has reached nearly 
ten millions. A new epoch has arisen ; and it becomes us deliber- 
ately to contemplate our own actual condition, and the relations which 
are likely to exist between us and the other parts of the world. The 
actual state of our population, and the ratio of its progressive 
increase when compared with the ratio of the increase of the pop- 
ulation of the countries which have hitherto consumed our raw 
produce, seem, to me, alone to demonstrate the necessity of diverting 
some portion of our industry from its accustomed channel. We 
double our population in about the term of twenty-five years. If 
there be no change in the mode of exerting our industry, we shall 
double, during the same term, the amount of our exportable produce. 
Europe, including such of her colonies as we have free access to, ta- 
ken altogether, does not duplicate her population in a shorter term, 
probably, than one hundred years. The ratio of the increase of her 
capacity of consumption, therefore, is, to that of our capacity of pro- 
duction, as one is to four. And it is manifest, from the simple ex- 
hibition of the powers of the consuming countries, compared with 
those of the supplying country, that the former are inadequate to the 
latter. It is certainly true, that a portion of the mass of our raw pro- 
duce, which we transmit to her, reverts to us in a fabricated form, 
and that this return augments with our increasing population. This 
is, however, a very inconsiderable addition to her actual ability to 
afford a market for the produce of our industry. 

I believe that we are already beginning to experience the want of 
capacity in Europe to consume our surplus produce. Take the arti- 
cles of cotton, tobacco, and bread-stuffs. For the latter we have 
scarcely any foreign demand. And is there not reason to believe that 
we have reached, if we have not passed, the maximum of the foreign 
demand for the other two articles ? Considerations connected with 
the cheapness of cotton, as a raw material, and the facility with which 
it can be fabricated, will probably make it be more and more used a* 



ON PROTECTION TO HOMK INDUSTRY . 141 

a substitute for other materials. But, alter you allow to the Remand 
for it the utmost extension of which it is susceptible, it Is yet quite 
limited — limited by the number of persons who use it, by their wants, 
and their ability to supply them. If we have not reached, therefore, 
the maximum of the foreign demand, (as I believe we have,) we 
must soon fully satisfy it- With respect to tobacco, that article 
affording an enjoyment not necessary, as food and clothes are, to 
human existence, the foreign demand for it is still more precarious, 
and I apprehend that w e have already passed its limits. It appears 
to me, then, that, if we consult our interest merely, we ought to en- 
courage home manufactures. But there are other motives to recom- 
mend it, of not legs importance. 

The wants of man may be classed under three heads — food, rai- 
ment, and defence. They are felt alike in the state of barbarism and 
of civilization. He must be defended against the ferocious beasts of 
prey in the one condition, and against the ambition, violence, and 
injustice, incident to the other. If he seeks to obtain a supply of 
those wants without giving an equivalent, he is a beggar or a robber ; 
if by promising an equivalent which he cannot give, he is fraudulent ; 
and if by a commerce, in which there is perfect freedom on his side, 
whilst he meets with nothing but restrictions on the other, he sub- 
mits to an unjust and degrading inequality. What is true of individ- 
uals is equally so of nations. The country, then, which relies upon 
foreign nations for either of those great essentials, is not, in fact, in- 
dependent. Nor is it any consolation for our dependance upon other 
nations, that they are also dependant upon us, even were it true. 
Every nation should anxiously endeavor to establish its absolute in- 
dependence, and consequently be able to feed, and clothe, and defend 
itself. If it rely upon a foreign supply, that may be cut oil' by the 
caprice of the nation yielding it, by war with it, or even by war with 
other nations : it cannot be independent. But it is not true that any 
other nations depend upon us in a degree any thing lixe equal to that 
of our dependance upon them for the great necessaries to which I 
have referred. Even other nation seeks to supply itself with them 
from its own resources ; and, so strong is the desire which they 
feel to accomplish this; purpose, that they exclude the cheaper for- 
eign article \\>r the dearer home production- Witness the English 
policy in regard to corn. So selfish, in this respect, is the conduct 
of other powers, that, in some instances, they even prohibit the pro- 

13 



142 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

duce of the industry of their own colonies, when it comes int* rom 
petition with the produce of the parent country. All other countries 
but our own exclude, by high duties, or absolute prohibitions, what- 
ever they can respectively produce within themselves. The truth 
is, and it is in vain to disguise it, that we are a sort of independent 
colonies of England — politically free, commercially slaves. Gentle- 
men tell us of the advantages of a free exchange of the produce of the 
world. But they tell us of what has never existed, does not exist, 
and perhaps never will exist. They invoke us to give perfect free- 
dom on our side, whilst in the ports of every other nation, we are 
met with a code of odious restrictions, shutting out entirely a great 
part of our produce, and letting in only so much as they cannot pos- 
sibly do without. I will hereafter examine their favorite maxim, ot 
leaving things to themselves, more particularly. At present I will 
only say that I too am a friend to free trade, but it must be a free 
trade of perfect reciprocity. If the governing consideration were 
cheapness ; if national independence were to weigh nothing ; if honor 
nothing ; why not subsidize foreign powers to defend us ? why not 
hire Swiss or Hessian mercenaries to protect us ? why not get our 
arms of all kinds, as we do, in part, the blankets and clothing of our 
soldiers, from abroad ? We should probably consult economy by 
tnese dangerous expedients. 

But, say gentlemen, there are to the manufacturing system some 
inherent objections, which should induce us to avoid its introduction 
into this country ; and we are warned by the example of England, 
by her pauperism, by the vices of her population, her wars, &c It 
would be a strange order of Providence, if it were true, that he 
should create necessary and indispensable wants, and yet should ren- 
der us unable to supply them without the degradation or contamina- 
tion of our species. 

Pauperism is, in general, the effect of an overflowing population. 
Manufactures may undoubtedly produce a redundant population ; but 
so may commerce, and so may agriculture. In this respect they are 
alike ; and from whatever cause the disproportion of a population to 
the subsisting faculty of a country may proceed, its effect of pauper- 
ism is the same. Many parts of Asia would exhibit, perhaps, as 
afflicting effects of an extreme prosecution of the agricultural system, 
as England can possibly furnish, respecting the manufacturing. It 






ON PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 143 

ia not, however, fair to argue from these extreme cases, against 
either the one system or the other. There are abuses incident to 
every branch of industry, to every profession. It would not be 
thought very just or wise to arraign the honorable professions of law 
and physic, because the one produces the pettifogger, ana the other 
the quack. Even in England it has been established, by the diligent 
search of Colquhoun, from the most authentic evidence, the judicial 
records of the country, that the instances of crime were much more 
numerous in the agricultural than in the manufacturing districts ; 
thus proving that the cause of wretchedness and vice in that country 
was to be sought for, not in this or that system, so much as in the fact 
of the density of its population. France resembles this country more 
than England, in respect to the employments of her population ; and 
we do not find that there is anything in the condition of the manufac- 
turing portion of it, which ought to dissuade us from the introduction of 
it into our own country. But even France has not that great security 
against the abuses of the manufacturing system, against the effects of 
too great a density of population, which we possess in our waste 
lands. While this resource exists, we have nothing to apprehend. 
Do capitalists give too low wages ; are the laborers too crowded, and 
"in danger of starving ? — the unsettled lands will draw off the redun- 
dancy, and leave the others better provided for. If an unsettled 
province, such as Texas, for example, could, by some convulsion of 
nature, be wafted alongside of, and attached to, the island of Great 
Britain, the instantaneous effect would be, to draw off the redundant 
portion of the population, and to render more comfortable both the 
emigrants and those whom they would leave behind. I am aware that 
while the public domain is an acknowledged security against the abuses 
of the manufacturing, or any other system, it constitutes, at the same 
time, an impediment, in the opinion of some, to the success of manu- 
facturing industry, by its tendency to prevent the reduction of the 
wages of labor. Those who urge this objection have their eyes too 
much fixed on the ancient system of manufacturing, when manual 
labor was the principal instrument which it employed. During the 
last half century, since the inventions of Arkwright, and the long 
train of improvements which followed, the labor of machinery is 
principally used. I have understood, from sources of information 
which I believe to be accurate, that the combined force of all the ma- 
chinery employed by Great Britain, in manufacturing, is equal to the 
labor of one hundred millions of able-bodied men. If we suppose the 



144 SPEECHES OF HEWBV CLAT. 

aggregate of the labor of al? the indviduals which she employs in 
that branch of industry to be equal to the united labor of two mil- 
lions of able-bodied men, (and I should think it does not exceed it,) 
machine labor will stand to manual labor, in the proportion of one 
hundred to two. There cannot be a doubt that we have skill and 
enterprise enough to command the requisite amount of machine 
power- 

There are, too, some checks to emigration from the settled parts 
of our country to the waste lands of the west. Distance is one, and 
it is every day becoming greater and greater. There exists, also, a 
natural repugnance (felt less, it is true, in the United States than 
elsewhere, but felt even here) to abandoning the place of our nativity. 
Women and children, who could not migrate, and who would oe 
comparatively idle if manufactures did not exist, may be profitably 
employed in them. This is a very great benefit. I witnessed the 
advantage resulting from the employment of this description of our 
population, in a visit which I lately made to the Waltham manufac- 
tory, near Boston. There, some hundreds of girls and boys were oc- 
cupied in separate apartments. The greatest order, neatness, and 
apparent comfort, reigned throughout the whole establishment. The 
daughters of respectable farmers — in one instance I remember the 
daughter of a senator in the State legislature, were usefully employed. 
They would come down to the manufactory, remain perhaps some 
months, and return, with their earnings, to their families, to assist 
them throughout the year. But one instance had occurred, I was 
informed by the intelligent manager, of doubtful conduct on the part 
of any of the females, and, after she was dismissed, there was reason 
to believe that injustice had been done her. Suppose that establish- 
ment to be destroyed, what would become of all the persons who are 
there engaged so beneficially to themselves, and so usefully to the 
State ? Can it be doubted that, if the crowds of little mendicant 
boys and girls who infest this edifice, and assail us, every day, at its 
very thresholds, as we come in and go out, begging for a cent, were 
employed in some manufacturing establishment, it would be better 
for them and the city ? Those who object to the manufacturing sys- 
tem should recollect, that constant occupation is the best security for 
innocence and virtue, and that idleness is the parent of vice and 
crime. They should contemplate the laboring poor with employ 
ment, and ask themselves what would be their condition without it, 



r»V PBOTECTION OP HOME INDUSTRY. I 4« 

If there are instances of hard taskmasters among (he manufacturers, 
so also arc there in agriculture. The cause is to be sought for, not 
in the nature of this or that system, but in the nature of man. If 
there are particular species of unhealthy employment in manufactures, 
so there are in agriculture also. There has been an idle attempt to 
ridicule the manufacturing system, and we have heard the expression. 
" spinning-jenny tenure. 1 ' It is one of the noblest inventions of hu- 
man skill. It has diffused comforts among thousands who, without 
it, would never have enjoyed them ; and millions yet unborn will 
bless the man by whom it was invented. Three important inventions 
cave distinguished the last half century, each of which, if it had 
happened at long intervals of time from the other, would have been 
sufficient to constitute an epoch in the progress of the useful arts. 
The first was that of Arkwright ; and our own country is entitled 
to the merit of the other two. The world is indebted to Whitney for 
the one, and to Fulton for the other. Nothing is secure against the 
shafts of ridicule. What would be thought of a man who should 
speak of a cotton-gin tenure, or a steamboat tenure ? 

In one respect there is a great difference in favor of manufactures, 
when compared with agriculture. It is the rapidity with which the. 
whole manufacturing community avail themselves of an improve- 
ment. It is instantly communicated and put in operation. There is 
an avidity for improvement in the one system — an aversion from it in 
the other. The habits of generation after generation pass down the 
long track of time in perpetual succession without the slightest change 
in agriculture. The ploughman who fastens his plough to the tails 
of his cattle, will not own that there is any other mode equal to his. 
An agricultural people will be in the neighborhood of other commu- 
nities, who have made the greatest progress in husband^, without 
advancing in the slightest degree. Many parts of our country are 
one hundred years in advance of Sweden in the cultivation and im ■ 
provement of the soil. 

It is objected, that the effect of the encouragement of home manu- 
factures, by the proposed tariff, will be to diminish the revenue from 
the customs. The amount of th2 revenue from that source will de- 
pend upon the amount of importations, and the measure of these will 
be the value of the exports from this country. The quantity of the 
•xportable produce will depend upon the foreign demand ; and ther» 



146 SPEECHES OF HENRY CL V. 

can be no doubt that, under any distribution of the labor and capitaF 
of this country, from the greater allurements which agriculture pre- 
sents than any other species of industry, there would be always a 
quantity of its produce sufficient to satisfy that demand. If there be 
a diminution in the ability of foreigr. cations to consume our raw 
produce, in the proportion of our diminished consumption of theirs, 
under the operation of this system, that will be compensated by the 
substitution of a home for a foreign market, in the same proportion- 
It is true that we cannot remain in the relation of seller, only to for- 
eign powers, for any length of time ; but if, as I have no doubt, our 
agriculture will continue to supply, as far as it can profitably, to the 
extent of the limits of foreign demand, we shall receive not only in 
return many of the articles on which the tariff operates, for our own 
consumption, but they may also form the objects of trade with South 
America and other powers, and our comforts may be multiplied by 
the importation of other articles. Diminished consumption, in con- 
sequence of the augmentation of duties, does not necessarily imply 
diminished revenue. The increase of the duty may compensate the 
decrease in the consumption, and give you as large a revenue as you 
before possessed. 

Can any one doubt the impolicy of government resting solely upon 
the precarious resource of such a revenue ? It is constantly fluctuating 
It tempts us, by its enorraous amount, at one time, into extravagan. 
expenditure ; and we are then driven, by its sudden and unexpected 
depression, into the opposite extreme. We are seduced by its flat- 
tering promises into expenses which we might avoid ; and we are 
afterwards constrained by its treachery, to avoid expenses which we 
ought to make. It is a system under which there is a sort of perpet- 
ual Avar, between the interest of the government and the interest of 
the people. Large importations fill the coffers of government, and 
empty the pockets of the people. Small importations imply prudence 
on the part of the people, and leave the treasury empty. In war, 
the revenue disappears ; in peace it is unsteady. On such a system. 
the government will not be able much longer exclusively to rely. 
We all anticipate that we shall have shortly to resort to some addi- 
tional supply of revenue within ourselves. I was opposed to the total 
repeal o the internal revenue. I would have preserved certain parts 
of it at least, to be ready for emergencies such as now exist. And I 
am, for one, ready to exclude foreign spirits altogether, and substitute 



9H PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 147 

Tor the revenue levied on them a tax upon the spirits made within 
the country. No other nation lets in so much of foreign spirits as we 
do. By the encouragement of home industry, you will lay a basis of 
internal taxation, when it gets strong, that will be steady and uni- 
■ form, yielding alike in peace and in war. We do not derive our abil- 
ity from abroad, to pay taxes. That depends upon our wealth and 
our industry ; and it is the same, whatever may be the form of levy- 
ing the public contributions. 

But it is urged, that you tax other interests of the state to sustain 
manufacturers. The business of manufacturing, if encouraged, will 
be open to all. It is not for the sake of the particular individuals 
who may happen to be engaged in it, that we propose to foster it ; 
but it is for the general interest. We think that it is necessary to the 
comfort and well-being of society, that fabrication, as well as the 
business of production and distribution, should be supported and taken 
care of. Now, if it be even true, that the price of the home fabric 
will be somewhat higher, in the first instance, than the rival foreign 
articles, that consideration ought not to prevent our extending rea- 
sonable protection to the home fabric. Present temporary incon- 
venience may be well submitted to for the sake of future permanent 
benefit. If the experience of all other countries be not utterly falla- 
cious ; if the promises of the manufacturing system be not absolutely 
illusory, by the competition which will be elicited in consequence 
of your parental care, prices will be ultimately brought down to a 
level with that of the foreign commodity. Now, in a scheme of poli- 
cy which is devised for a nation, we should not limit our views to its 
operation during a single year, or for even a short term of years. We 
should look at its operation for a considerable time, and in war as 
well as in peace. Can there be a doubt, thus contemplating it, that 
we shall be compensated by the certainty and steadiness of the sup- 
ply in all seasons, and the ultimate reduction of the price for any tem- 
porary sacrifices we make ? Take the example of salt, wbich the 
ingenious gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Archer) has adduced. He 
says, during the war, the price of that article rose to ten dollars per 
bushel, and he asks if you would lay a duty, permanent in its dura- 
tion, of three dollars per bushel, to secure a supply in war. I answer, 
no, I would not lay, so high a duty. That which is now proposed, 
for the encouragement of the domestic production, is only five cent* 
per bushel. In forty years the duty would amount only Ic two do'- 



148 8PEECHE3 OF HENRY CL^T. 

lars. If the recurrence of war .shall be only after intervals of forty 
years' peace, (and we may expect it probably oftener,) and if, -when 
it does come, the same price should again be given, there will be a 
clear saving of eight dollars, by promoting the domestic fabrication 
All society is an affair of mutual concession. If we expect to derive , 
the benefits which are indent to it, we must sustain our reasonable 
share of burdens. The great interests which it. is intended to guard 
and cherish, must be supported by their reciprocal action and reaction. 
The harmony of its parts is disturbed ; the discipline which is neces- 
sary to its order is incomplete, when one of the three great and essen- 
tial branches of its industry is abandoned and unprotected. If you 
want to find an example of order, of freedom from debt, of economy, 
of expenditure fatting below, rather than exceeding income, you will- 
go ti> «ne vvi-n-reguiaied iamay ot a tanner. X ou will go to me 
hou»fc of such a man as Isaac Shelby. You will not find him haunt- 
ing taverns, engaged in broils, prosecuting angry lawsuits. You will 
behold every member of his family clad with the produce of their 
own hands, and usefully employed ; the spinning-wheel and the lo<.m 
>n motion by daybreak. With what pleasure will his wife carry you 
into her neat dairy, lead you into her store-house, and point you to 
the table-cloths, the sheets, the counterpanes which lie on this shelf 
for one daughter, or on that for another, all prepared in advance by 
her provident care for the day of their respective marriages. If you 
want to see an opposite example, go to the house of a man who man- 
ufactures nothing at home, whose family resorts to the store for every 
thing they consume. You will find him perhaps in the tavern, or at 
the shop at the cross-roads. He is engaged, with the rum grog on 
the table, taking depositions to make out some case of usury or fraud. 
Or perhaps he is furnishing to his lawyer the materials to prepare a 
long bill of injunction in some intricate case. The sheriff is hovering 
about his farm to serve some new writ. On court-days — he never 
misses attending them — you will find him eagerly collecting his wit- 
nesses to defend himself against the merchant's and doctor's claims 
.: Go to his house, and, after the short and giddy period that his wife 
and daughters have flirted about the country in their calico and mus- 
lin frocks, what a scene of discomfort and distress is presented to you 
there ! What the individual family of Isaac Shelby is, I wish to see 
the nation in the aggregate become. But I fear we shall shortly have 
to contemplate its resemblance in the opposite picture. If statesmen 
would carefully observe the conduct of private individuals in th* 



ON PROTECTION 01' HOME CNDU3TKT. 149 

management of their own affairs, they would have much surer guides 
in promoting the interests of the state, than the visionary specula 
tions of theoretical writers. 

The manufacturing system is not only injurious to agriculture, but, 
.say its opponents, it is injurious also to foreign commerce. We 
ought not to conceal from ourselves cur present actual position in 
relation to other powers. During the protracted war which has so 
long convulsed all Europe, and which will probably be succeeded by 
a long peace, we transacted the commercial business of other nations, 
and largely shared with England the carrying trade of the world. 
Now, every other nation is anxioupl} endeavoring to transact its own 
business, to rebuild its marine, and to foster its navigation. The 
consequence of the former state of things was, that our mercantile 
marine, and our commercial employment were enormously dispropor 
tionate to the exchangeable domestic produce of our country. And 
the result of the latter will be, that, as exchanges between this coun- 
try and ©iher nations will hereafter consist principally, on our part, 
of our domestic produce, that marine and that employment will be 
brought down to what is necessary to effect those exchanges. I 
regret exceedingly this reduction. I wish the mercantile class could 
enjoy the same extensive commerce that they formerly did. But, 
if they cannot, it would be a folly to repine at what is irrecoverably 
lost, and we should seek rather to adapt ourselves to the new cir- 
cumstances in which we find ourselves. If, as I think, we have 
reached the maximum of our foreign demand for our three great sta- 
ples, cotton, tobacco, and flour, no man will contend that we should 
go on to produce more and more, to be sent to the glutted foreign 
market, and consumed by devouring expenses, merely to give em- 
ployment to our tonnage and to our foreign commerce. It would be 
t-xtremely unwise to accommodate our industry to produce, not what 
is wanted abroad, but cargoes for our unemployed ships. I would 
give our foreign trade every legitimate encouragement, and extend it 
whenever it can be extended profitably. Hitherto it has been stimu- 
lated too highly, by the condition of the world, and our own policy 
acting on that condition. And we are reluctant to believe that we 
must submit to its necessary abridgment. The habits of trade ; the 
tempting instances of enormous fortunes which have been made by 
the successful prosecution of it, are such, that we turn with regret 
from its pursuit ; we still cherish a lingering hope ; i e persuade our 

44 



150 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

selves that something will occur, how and what it may be, we know 
not, to revive its former activity ; and we would push into every un- 
tried channel, grope through the Dardanelles into the Black Sea, t*> 
restore its former profits. I repeat it, let us proclaim to the people, 
of the United States the incontestable truth, that our foreign trade 
must be circumscribed by the altered state of the world ; and, leaving 
it in the possession of all the gains which it can now possibly make, 
let us present motives to the capital and labor of our country to em- 
ploy themselves'in fabrication at home. There is no danger that, by 
a withdrawal of that portion which is unprofitably employed on other 
objects, and an application of it to fabrication, our agriculture would 
be too much cramped. The produce of it will always come up to 
the foreign demand. Such are the superior allurements belonging to 
the cultivation of the soil to all other branches of industry, that it 
will always be preferred when it can profitably be followed. The 
foreign demand will, in any conceivable state of things, limit the 
amount of the exportable produce of agriculture. The amount of 
our cxportations 'will form the measure of our importations, and, 
whatever these may be, they will constitute the basis of the revenue 
derivable from customs. 

The manufacturing system is favorable to the maintenance of peace. 
Foreign commerce is the great source of foreign wars. The eager- 
ness with which we contend for every branch of it ; the temptations 
which it offers, operating alike upon us and our foreign competitors, 
produce constant collisions. No country on earth, by the extent of 
its superficies, the richness of its soil, the variety of its climate, con- 
tains Avithin its own limits more abundant facilities for supplying all 
our rational wants than ours does. It is not necessary or desirable, 
however, to cut off all intercourse with foreign powers. But, after se- 
curing a supply, within ourselves, of all the great essentials of life, 
there will be ample scope still left for preserving such an intercourse. 
If we had no intercourse with foreign states, if we adopted the policy 
of China, we should have no external wars. And in proportion as we 
diminish our dependance upon them, shall we lessen the danger of 
the recurrence of war. Our late war would not have existed if the 
counsels of the manufacturers in England had been listened to. They 
finally did prevail, in their steady and persevering effort to produce 
a reneal of the orders in council ; but it was too late to prevent 
$33 war. Those who attribute to the manufacturing system the bur- 



ON PROTECTION OF HOMV INDUSTRY. 151 

dens and misfortunes of that country, commit a great error. These 
were probably a joint result of the operation of the whole of her sys- 
tems, and the larger share of it was to be ascribed to her foreign 
commerce, and to the ambition of her rulers, than to any other cause 
The war of our revolution, in which that ambition displayed its mon- 
strous arrogance and pretensions, laid the broad foundation of that 
enormous debt under which she now groans. 

The tendency of reasonable encouragement to our home industry 
is favorable to the preservation and strength of our confederacy. 
Now our connexion is merely political. For the sale of the surplus 
of the produce of our agricultural labor, all eyes are constantly turned 
upon the markets of Liverpool. There is scarcely any of that bene- 
ficial intercourse, the best basis of political connexion, which consists 
of the exchange of the produce of our labor. On our maritime fron- 
tier there has been too much stimulus, an unnatural activity ; in the 
great interior of the country, there exists a perfect paralysis. En 
courage fabrication at home, and there will instantly arise animation 
and a healthful circulation throughout all the parts of the republic. 
The cheapness, fertility, and quantity of our waste lands, offer such 
powerful inducements to cultivation, that our countrymen are con- 
stantly engaging in it. I would not check this disposition by hard 
terms in the sale of it. Let it be easily accessible to all who wish to 
acquire it. But I would countervail this predilection by presenting 
to capital and labor, motives for employment in other branches of 
industry. Nothing is more uncertain than the pursuit of agriculture, 
when we mainly rely upon foreign markets for the sale of its surplus 
produce. In the first place, it is impossible to determine, a priori, 
the amount of this surplus ; and, in the second, it is equally impossi- 
ole to anticipate the extent of the foreign demand. Both the one and 
the other depend upon the seasons. From the fluctuations incident 
to these, and from other causes, it may happen that the supplying 
country will, for a long series of years, have employed a larger share 
of its capital and labor than is wise, in production to supply the wants 
of the consuming countries, without becoming sensible of its defect 
of policy. The failure of a crop, or the failure of a market, does not 
discourage the cultivator. He renews his labors another year, and 
he renews his hopes. It is otherwise with manufacturing industry 
The precise quantum of its produce, at least, can with some accuracy 



152 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

be previously estimated. And the wants of foreign countries can be 
~*- ; th some probability anticipated. 

I am sensible, M<". Chairman, if 1 have even had a success, which 
I dare not presume, in the endeavor I have been making to show that 
sound policy requires a diversion of so much of the capital and labor 
of this country from other employments as may be necessary, by a 
different application of them, to secure, within ourselves, a steady 
and adequate supply of the great necessaries of life, I shall have only 
established one half of what is incumbent upon me to prove. It will 
still be required by the other side, that a second proposition be sup- 
ported, and that is, that government ought to present motives foi 
such a diversion and new application of labor and capital, by that 
species of protection which the U:riffhok!s out. Gentlemen saj r , We 
agree with you ; you are right in your first proposition ; but, " let 
things alone," and they will come right in the end. Now, I agree 
with them, that things would ultimately get right : but not until after 
a long period of disorder and distress, terminating in the impoverish- 
ment, and perhaps ruin of the country. Dissolve government, re- 
duce it to its primitive elements, and, without any general effort to 
reconstruct it, there would arise, out of the. anarchy which would 
ensue, partial combinations for the purpose of individual protection 
which would finally lead to a social form, competent to the conser- 
vation of peace within, and the repulsion of force from without. Yet 
no one would say, in such a state of anarchy, Let things alone ! If 
gentlemen, by their favorite maxim, mean only that, within the bosom 
of the state, things are to be left alone, and each individual, and each 
branch of industry, allowed to pursue their respective interests, with 
out giving a preference to either, 1 subscribe to it. But if they give 
it a more comprehensive import ; if they require that things be left 
alone, in respect not only to interior action, but to exterior action 
also ; not only as regards the operation of our own government upon 
the mass of the interests of the state, but as it relates to the opera- 
tion of foreign governments upon that mass, I dissent from it. 

This maxim, in this enlarged sense, is indeed everywhere pro- 
claimed ; but nowhere practised. It is truth in the books of Euro- 
pean political economists. It is error in the practical code of every 
European state. It is not applied where it is most applicable ; it i* 
attempted to be : 'i"oduced here, where it is least applicable j ami 



ON PROTFXTION OK HOME INDUSTRY. « 

even here its friends propose to limit it to the single branch of raanu 
facturing industry, whilst every other interest is encouraged and pro- 
tected according to the policy of Europe. The maxim would best 
suit Europe, where i>ach interest is adjusted and arranged to every 
other, by causes operating during many centuries. Everything there 
has taken and preserved its ancient position. The. house float was 
built centuries ago, is occupied by the descendants of its original con- 
structor. If one could rise up, after the lapse of ages, and enter a 
European shop, he would see the same hammer at work, on the same 
anvil or last, and almost by the same hand. There everything has 
found its place and its level, and everything, one would think, might 
there be s&felyleft alone. But the policy <>!' the European states is 
otherwise. Here everything is new and unfixed. Neither the state, 
nor the individuals who compose it, have settled down in their firm 
and permanent positions. There is a constant tendency, in conse- 
quence of the extent of our publfc domain, towards production for 
foreign markets. The maxim, in the comprehensive sense in which 
I am considering it, requires, to entitle it to observation, two condi- 
tions, neither of which exists. First, that there should be per- 
petual peace, and secondly, that the maxim should be everywhere 
respected. When war breaks out, that free and general circulation 
of the produce of industry among the nations Avhich it recommends, 
is interrupted, and the nation that depends upon a foreign supply of 
its necessaries, must be subjected to the greatest inconvenience. If 
it be not everywhere observed, there will be, between the nation that 
does not, and the nation that does, conform to it, an inequality alike 
condemned by hoaor and by interest. If there be no reciprocity ; if, 
on the one side, there is perfect freedom of trade, and on the other 
a code of odious restrictions, will gentlemen still contend that we are 
to submit to such an unprofitable and degrading intercourse ? Will 
they require that we shall act upon the social system, whilst every 
other power acts upon the selfish ? Will they demand of us to throw 
widely open our ports to every nation, whilst all other nations entirely 
or partly exclude theirs against our productions ? It is, indeed, pos- 
sible, that some pecuniary advantage might be enjoyed by our coun- 
try in prosecuting the remnant of the trade which the contracted 
policy of other powers leaves to us. But what security is there for our 
continuing to enjoy even that r And is national honor, is national 
independence to count as nothing ? I will not enter into a detail of 
the restrictions with which we are everywhere presents! in foreign 



A 54 SPEECHES OP HENKY CLAY. 

countries. I will content myself with asserting that they take noth- 
ing from us which they can produce themselves, upon even worse 
terms than we could supply them. Take, again, as an example, the 
English corn laws. America presents the image of a fine, generous 
hearted young fellow, who has just come to the possession of a rich 
estate — an estate, which, however, requires careful management 
He makes nothing ; he buys everything. He is surrounded by a par- 
cel of Jews, each holding out his hand with a packet of buttons or 
pins, or some other commodity, for sale. If he asks those Jews to 
buy any thing which his estate produces, they tell him no ; it is not 
for our interest ; it is not for yours. Take this new book, says one 
of them, on political economy, and you will there perceive it is for 
your interest to buy from us, and to let things alone in your own 
country. The gentleman from Virginia, to whom I have already re- 
ferred, has surrendered the whole argument, in the example of the 
East India trade. He thinks tha£ because India takes nothing but 
specie from us ; because there is not a reciprocal exchange between 
us and India, of our respective productions, that the trade ought to 
be discontinued. Now I do not agree with him, that it ought to be 
abandoned, though I would put it under considerable restrictions, 
when it comes in competition with the fabrics of our own country. 
If the want of entire reciprocity be a sufficient ground for the total 
abandonment of a particular branch of trade, the same principle re- 
quires that, where there are some restrictions on the one side, thev 
should be countervailed by equal restrictions on the other. 

But this maxim, according to which g' ntlemen would have us 
abandon the home industry of the country, r .o the influence of the 
restrictive systems of other countries, without an effort to protect and 
preserve it, is not itself observed by the same gentlemen, in regard to 
the great interests of the nation. We protect our fisheries by boun- 
ties and drawbacks. We protect our tonnage, by excluding or restrict- 
ing foreign tonnage, exactly as our tonnage is excluded or restricted 
by foreign states. We passed, a year or two ago, the bill to prohibit 
British navigation from the West India colonies of that power to the 
United States, because ours is shut out from them. The session prior 
to the passage of that law, the gentleman from South Carolina and I, 
almost alone, urged the House to pass it. But the subject was post- 
poned until the next session, when it was passed by nearly a unani- 
mous vote, the gentleman from South Carolina, and the two gentlemen 



ON PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRT. 155 

from Virginia, (Messrs Barbour and Tyler,) voting with the majori- 
ty- We have now upoL our table other bills connected with that 
object, and proposing restriction upon the French tonnage to counter- 
vail theirs upon ours. I shall, with pleasure, vote for these measures. 
We protect our foreign trade, by consuls, by foreign ministers, by em- 
bargoes, by non-intercourse, by a navy, by fortifications, by squad- 
rons constantly acting abroad, by war, and by a variety of commercial 
regulations in our statute book. The whole system of the general 
covernment, from its first formation to the present time, consists, al- 
most exclusively, in one unremitting endeavor to nourish, and pro- 
tect, and defend the foreign trade. Why have not all these great in- 
terests been left to the operation of the gentlemen's favorite maxim ? 
Sir, it is perfectly right that we should have aff. , =?d this protection. 
And it is perfectly right, in my humble opinion, that we should ex- 
tend the principle to the home industry. I am a friend to foreign 
trade, but I protest against its being the monopolist of all the parental 
favor and care of this government. 

But, sir, friendly as I am to the existence of domestic manufactures, 
I would not give to them unreasonable encouragement, by protecting 
duties. Their growth ought to be gradual, but sure. I believe all 
the circumstances of the present period highly favorable to their suc- 
cess. But they are the youngest and the weakest interest of the 
state. Agriculture wants but little or no protection against the regu- 
lations of foreign powers. The advantages of our position, and the 
cheapness, and abundance, and fertility of our land, afford to that great- 
est interest of the state almost all the protection it wants. As it 
should be, it is strong and flourishing ; or, if it be not, at this mo- 
ment, prosperous, it is not because its produce is not ample, but be- 
cause, depending, as we do altogether, upon a foreign market for the 
sale of the surplus of that produce, the foreign market is glutted. 
Our foreisn trade, having almost exclusively engrossed the protecting 
care of government, wants no further legislative aid. And, whatever 
depression it may now experience, it is attributable to causes beyond 
the control of this government. The abundance of capital, indicated 
by the avidity with which loans are sought, at the reduced rate of five 
per centum ; the reduction in the wages of labor, and the decline in 
the price of property of every kind, as well as that of agricultural 
produce, all concur favorably for domestic manufactures. Now, as 
when we arranged the existing tariff, is the auspicious moment fot 



166 9Tl%CWES OF HKKRY CLAT. 

government to step in and cheer and countenance then We did too 
Vittle then, and I endeavored to warn this House of the effects of in- 
adequate protection. We were called upon, at that time, by the 
previous pledges we had given, by the inundation of foreign fabrics, 
which was to be anticipated from their free admission after the ter- 
mination of the war, and by the lasting interests of this country, to 
give them efficient support. We did not do it ; but let us not now 
repeat the error. Our great mistake has been in the irregularity of 
the action of the measures of this government upon manufacturing 
industry. At one. period it is stimulated too high, and then, by an 
opposite course of policy, it is precipitated into a condition of de- 
pression is jo low. First there came the embargo ; then non-inter- 
course, and other restrictive measures followed ; and finally, that 
greatest of all stimuli to domestic fabrication, war. During all that 
long period, we were adding to the positive effect of the measures 
of government, all the moral encouragement which results from pop- 
ular resolves, legislative resolves, and other manifestations of the 
public will and the public wish to foster our home manufactures, and 
tr. render our confederacy independent of foreign powers. The peace 
ensued, and the country was flooded with the fabrics of other coun- 
tries ; and we, forgetting all our promises, coolly and philosophically 
talk of leaving things to themselves ; making up our deficiency of 
practical good sense, by the stores of learning which we collect from 
theoretical writers. I, too, sometimes amuse myself with the visions 
of these writers, (as I do with those of metaphysicians and novelists,) 
and, if I do not forget, one of the best among them enjoins it upon a 
country to protect its industry against the injurious influence of the 
prohibitions and restrictions of foreign countries, which operate upon it. 

Monuments of the melancholy effects upon our manufactures, and 
of the fluctuating policy of the councils of the Union in regard to 
them, abound in all parts of the country. Villages, and parts of vil 
lages, which sprang up but yesterday in the western country, under 
the excitement to which I have referred, have dwindled into decay, 
and are abandoned. In New England, in passing along the highway, 
one frequently sees large and spacious buildings, with the glass broken 
out of the windows, the shutters hanging in ruinous disorder, without 
any appearance of activity, and enveloped in solitary gloom. Upon 
:nquiring what they are, you are almost always informed that they 
*+r<* sorr*> cotton or other factory, which th-ir proprietors could ta> 



ON PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY. 157 

longer keep in motion against the overwhelming pressure of foreign 
competition. Gentlrman ask for facts to show the expediency and 
propriety of extending protection to our manufactures. Do they 
"want stronger evidence than the condition of things I have pointed 
out ? They ask why the manufacturing industry is not resumed un- 
der the encouraging auspices of the present time ? Sir, the answer is 
obvious ; there is a general dismay ; there is a want of heart , there 
is the greatest moral discouragement experienced throughout the na- 
tion. A man who engages in the manufacturing business is thought 
by his friends to be deranged. Who will go to the ruins of Carthage 
or Balbec to rebuild a city there ? Let government commence a 
systematic but moderate support of this important branch of our in- 
dustry. Let it announce its fixed purpose, that the protection of 
manufactures against the influence of the measures of foreign govern- 
^ments, will enter into the scope of our national policy. Let us sub- 
stitute, for the irregular action of our measures, one that shall be 
steady and uniform ; and hope, and animation, and activity will again 
revive. The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Lowndes,) offer- 
ed a resolution, which the House rejected, having for its object to as- 
certain the profits now made upon capital employed in manufacturing. 
It is not, I repeat it, the individuals, but the interests we wish to have 
protected. From the infinite variety of circumstances under which 
different manufacturing establishments are situated, it is impossible 
that any information', such as the gentleman desires, could be obtain- 
ed, that ought to guide the judgment of this He ^e. It may happen 
that, of two establishments engaged in the same species of fabrication, 
one will be prospering and the other laboring. Take the example of 
the Waltham manufactory near Boston, and that of Brunswick in 
Maine. The former has the advantage of a fine water situation, a 
manager of excellent information, enthusiastically devoted to its sac- 
cess, a machinist of most inventive genius, who is constantly making 
some new improvement, and who has carried the water loom to a de- 
gree of perfection which it has not attained in England — to such per- 
fection as to reduce the cost of weaving a yard of cloth adapted to 
shirting to less than a cent — while it is abundantly supplied with 
capital by several rich capitalists in Boston. These gentlemen 
have the most extensive correspondence with all parts of the United 
States Owing to this extraordinary combination of favorable cir- 
cumstances, the Waltham establishment is doing pretty well ; whilst 
that o! Brunswick, not possessing all of them, but perhaps as reany 

45 



j.58 SPEECHES OF HENRY CXAT. 

as would enable it, under adequate protection, to flourish, is laboring 
arduously. Will gentlemen infer, from the success of a few insti- 
tutions having peculiar advantages, which form exceptions to the lan- 
guishing condition of manufacturing industry, that there exists no 
necessity for protection ? In the most discouraging state of trade and 
navigation, there are no doubt, always some individuals who are 
successful in prosecuting them. Would it be fair to argue, from 
these instances, against any measure brought forward to revive their 
activity ? 

The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Whitman) has manifest- 
ed peculiar hostility to the tarifT, and has allowed himself to denomi- 
nate it a mad, quixotic, ruinous scheme. The gentleman is dissatis- 
fied with the quarter — the west — from which it emanates. To give 
higher tone and more effect to the gentleman's declamation, which is 
•a^ue and indefinive, he has even assumed a new place in this House * 
*ir, I would advise the gentleman to return to his ancient position, 
moral and physical. It was respectable and useful. The honorable 
gentleman professes to be a friend to manufacturers ! And yet he 
has found an insurmountable constitutional impediment to their en- 
couragement, of which, as no other gentleman has relied upon it, I 
shall leave him in the undisturbed possession. The honorable gen- 
tleman a friend to manufacturers ! And yet he has delivered a 
speech, marked with peculiar emphasis, against their protection 
The honorable gentleman a friend to manufacturers ! And yet he 
requires, if this constitutional difficulty could be removed, such an 
arrangement of the tariff as shall please him, although every one else 
should be dissatisfied.' The intimation is not new of the presumptu- 
ousness of western politicians, in endeavoring to give to the policy 
of this country such a direction as will assert its honor and sustain 
its interests. It was first made whilst the measures preparatory tu 
the late war were under consideration, and it now probably emanates 
from the same quarter. The predilection of the school of the Essex, 
junto for foreign trade and British fabrics — I am far from insinuating 
that other gentlemen who are opposed to the tariff are actuated by 
any such spirit — is unconquerable. We disregarded the intimation 
when it was first made ; we shall be uninfluenced by it now. If, in- 
deed, there were the least color for the assertion, that the foreign 
^rade is to be crushed by the tariff, is it not strange that the whole of 
e representation from all our great commercial metropolises should 



ON PROTECTION 1 D HOME INDUSTRY. 138 

unite to destroy it ? The member from Boston, — to whose rational 
and disinterested course I am happy, on this, as on many other oc- 
casions, to be able to testify, — the representatives from the city of 
.New York, from Philadelphia, from Baltimore, all entered into this 
confederacy, to destroy it, by supporting this mad and ruinous scheme. 
Some gentlemen assert that it is too comprehensive. But its chief 
recommendation to me is, that it leaves no important interest unpro- 
vided for. 

The sa\*ve gentlemen, or others, -fit had been more limited, would 
have objected to its partial operation. The general measure of the 
protection which it communicates is pronounced to be immoderate 
and enormous. Yet no one ventures to enter into a specification of 
the particular articles of which it is composed, to show that it de- 
serves thus to be characterized. The article of molasses has, indeed, 
been selected, and held up as an instance of the alleged extravagance. 
The existing tariff imposes a duty of five cents, the proposed tariff 
ten cents per gallon. We tax foreign spirits very high, and yet we 
let in, Avith a very low duty, foreign molasses, which ought to be 
considered as rum in disguise, filling the space of so much domestic 
spirits. If (which I do not believe will immediately be the case, to 
any considerable extent) the manufacture of spirits from molasses 
should somewhat decline under the new tariff the manufacture of 
spirits from the raw material, produced at home, will be extended in 
the same ratio. Besides the incidental advantage of increasing our 
-security against the effect of seasons of scarcity, by increasing the 
distillation of spirits from grain, there is scarcely any item in the 
tariff which combines so many interests in supporting the proposed 
rate of duty. The grain-growing country, the fruit country, and the 
culture of cane, would be all benefited by the duty. Its operation is 
said, however, to be injurious to a certain quarter of the Union. It 
is not to be denied, that each particular section of the country will 
feel some one or more articles of the tariff to bear hard upon it, during 
a short period ; but the compensation is to be found in the more fa- 
vorable operation of others. Now I am fully persuaded that, in the 
first instance, no part of the Union would share more largely than 
New England in the aggregate of the benefits resulting from the 
tariff. But the habits of economy of her people, their industry, their 
skill, their noble enterprise, the stimulating effects of their more rig- 
ous climate, all end to ensure to her the first and the richest fruit*- 



160 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

of the tariff. The middle and the western states will come in after- 
wards for their portion, and all will participate in the advantage 
of internal exchanges and circulation. No quarter of the Union 
will urge, with a worse grace than New England, objections to a 
measure, having for its object the advancement of the interests of the 
whole ; for no quarter of the Union participates more extensively in 
the benefits flowing from the general government. Her tonnage, hei 
fisheries, her foreign trade, have been constantly objects of federal 
care. There is expended the greatest portion of the public revenue. 
The building of the public ships ; their equipments ; the expenses 
incident to their remaining in port, chiefly take place 'there. That 
great drain on the revenue, the revolutionary pension law, inclines 
principally towards New England. I do not, however, complain of 
these advantages which she enjoys. She is probably fairly entitled 
to them. But gentlemen from that quarter may, at least, be justly 
reminded of them, when they complain of the onerous effect of one or 
two items of the tariff". 

Mr. Chairman, I frankly own that I feel great solicitude for the 
success of this bill. The entire independence of my country on all 
foreign states, as it respects a supply of our essential wants, has ever 
been with me a favorite object. The war of our revolution effected 
our political emancipation. The last war contributed greatly towards 
accomplishing our commercial freedom. But our complete indepen- 
dence will only be consummated after the policy of this bill shall be 
recognised and adopted. We have, indeed, great difficulties to con- 
tend with ; old habits, colonial usages, the obduracy of the colonial 
spirit, the enormous profits of a foreign trade, prosecuted under favor- 
able circumstances, which no longer continue. I will not despair ; 
the cause, I verily believe, is the cause of the country. It may be 
postponed ; it may be frustrated for the moment, but it must finally 
prevail. Let us endeavor to acauire for the present Congress, the 
merit of having laid this solid focftdation of the national prosperity. 
If, as I think, fatally for the public interest, the bill shall be defeated, 
what will be the character of the account which we shall have to 
render to our constituents upon our return among them ? We shall 
be asked, What have you done to remedy the disorders of the public 
currency ? Why, Mr. Secretary of the Treasury made us a long re- 
port on that matter, containing much valuable information, and sonte 
very good reasoning, but, upon the whole, we found that subject 



Olf PROTECTION TO HOME INDUSTRY. 161 

ijathpr aDove our comprehension, and we concluded t v ;Ai it was wisest 
io let it regulate itself. What have you done^o supply the deficit in 
the treasury ? We thought that, although you are all endeavoring 1 > 
get out of the banks, it was a very good time for us to go into them 
and we have authorized a loan. You have done y mething then, cer- 
tainly, on the subject of retrenchment. Here, at home, we are pru- 
tising the greatest economy, and our daughters, no longer able to 
wear calico gowns, are obliged to put on homespun. Why, we have 
saved, by the indefatigable exertions of a member from Tennessee — 
General Cocke — fifty thousand dollars, which were wanted for thf 
Yellow Stone expedition. No, not quite so much ; for thirty thou- 
sand dollars of «hat sum were still wanted, although we stopped the 
expedition at the Council Blufis. And we have saved another sum, 
which we hope will give you great satisfaction. After nearly two 
days' deb;\i, and a division* between the two houses, we struck oft' 
two hundred dollars from the salary of the clerk of the attorney -gen- 
eral. What have you done to protect home industry from the effects 
of the contracted policy of foreign powers ? We thought it best, after 
much deliberation, to leave things alone at home, and to continue our 
encouragement to foreign industry. Well, surely you have passed 
some law to reanimate and revive the hopes of the numerous bank- 
rupts that have been made by the extraordinary circumstances of the 
world, and the ruinous tendency of our policy ? No ; the senate 
could not agree on that subject, and the bankrupt bill failed ! Can 
we plead, sir, ignorance of the general distress, and of the ardent 
wishes of the community for that protection of its industry which this 
bill proposes ? No, sir, almost daily, throughout the session, have 
we been receiving petitions, with which our table is now loaded, 
humbly imploring us to extend this protection. Unanimous resolu- 
tions from important State legislatures have called upon us to give it, 
and the people of whole States in mass — almost in mass, of New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — have transmitted to us 
their earnest and humble petitions to encourage the home industry. 
Let us not turn a deaf ear io them. Let us not disappoint their just 
expectations. Let us manifest, by the passage of this bill, that Con- 
gress does not deserve the reproaches which have been cast on it, of 
insensibility to the wants and sufferings of the people. 

'Tills bill passed the Hou=e : yeas 90; nays 69: but in the senate was. prvtf.for.ee! t« 

- close vote < 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 

In the House of Representatives, January 16, 1824. 



[The power of the Federal Government to construct, or aid in constructing, works 
of Internal Improvements, had for several years formed one of the most steadily and 
earnestly controverted topics connected with the legislation of the country. Its ex- 
istence was affirmed, and its exercise demanded with an almost unanimous voice, 
by the spreading West, aided by many liberal and far-seeing representatives of other 
sections of the Union. It was opposed with equal ardor by a nearly equal number, 
throughout the continuance of the struggle. In 1824, a third effort was made, (two 
bills having been vetoed in former years,) and the bill authorizing the President to 
cause certain Surveys and Estimates for Roads and Canals to be made, being under 
consideration, Mr. Clay addressed the Committee of the Whole as follows:] 

I cannot enter on the discussion of the subject before me,without 
first asking leave to express my thanks for the kindness of the com 
mittee, in so far accommodating me as to agree unanimously to ad- 
journ its sitting to the present time, in order to afford me the oppor- 
tunity of exhibiting my views ; which, however, I fear < shall do 
very unacceptably. As a requital for this kindness, I will endeavor, 
as far as is practicable, to abbreviate what I have to present to your 
consideration. Yet, on a question of this extent and moment, there 
are so many topics which demand a deliberate examination, that, from 
the nature of the case, it will be impossible, 1 am afraid, to reduce the 
argument to any thing that the committee will consider a reasonable 
compass. •, 

It is known to all who hear me, that there has now existed for 
several years a difference of opinion between the executive and legis- 
lative branches of this government, as to the nature and extent of 
certain powers conferred upon it by the constitution. Two successive 
Presidents have ret; xned to Congress bills which had previously 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 163 

passed bcth houses of that body, with a communication of the opinion 
that Congress, under the constitution, possessed no power to enact 
uch laws. High respect, perse nal and official, must be felt by all, 
as it is due, to those distinguished officers, and to their opinions, thus 
solemnly announced ; and the most profound consideration belongs to 
our present Chief Magistrate, who has favored this House with a 
written argument, of great length and labor, containing not less than 
sixty or seventy pages, in support of his exposition of the constitu- 
tion. From the magnitude of the interests involved in the question, 
all will readily concur, that, if the power is granted, and docs really 
exist, it ought to be vindicated, upheld, and maintained, that the 
country may derive the great benefits which may flow from its pru- 
dent exercise. If it has not been communicated to Congress, then 
all claim to it should be at once surrendered. It is a circumstance of 
peculiar regret to me, that one more competent than myself has not 
risen to support the course which the legislative department has here- 
tofore felt itself bound to pursue on this great question. Of all the 
trusts which are created by human agency, that is the highest, most 
solemn, and most responsible, wh'sh involves the exercise of politi- 
cal power. Exerted when it has not been intrusted, the public func- 
tionary is guilty of usurpation And his infidelity to the public good 
is not, perhaps, less culpable, when he neglects or refuses to exercise 
a power which has been fairly conveyed, to promote the public pros- 
perity. If the power, which he thus forbears to exercise, can only 
be exercised by him — if no other public functionary can employ it, 
and the public good requires its exercise, his treachery is greatly ag- 
gravated. It is only in those cases where the object of the investment 
of power is the personal ease or aggrandizement of the public agent, 
that his forbearance to use it is praiseworthy, gracious, or magnani- 



I am extremely happy to find, that, on many of the points of the 
argument of the honorable gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Barbour,) 
there is entire concurrence between us, widely as we differ in our 
ultimate conclusions. On this occasion, (as on all others on which 
that gentleman oblige s i 1 with an expression of his opinions,) 

he displays great ability and ingenuity ; and, as well from the mat- 
ter as from the respectful manner of his argm tent, 3 ig of 
the most thorough consideration. I am compelled to differ from 
hat gentleman at the very threshhold. He commenced by laying 



i64 SPEECHFS OF HENRY CLAY 

down, as a gen?rsl principle, that, in the distribution of powers among 
our federal and State governments, those which are of a municipal 
character are to be considered as appertaining to the State govern- 
ments, and those which relate to external affairs, to the general gov 
etnment. If I may be allowed to throw the argument of the gentle- 
man into the form of a syllogism, (a shape which I presume will be 
quite agreeable to him,) it amounts to this : Municipal powers be- 
long exclusively to the State governments ; but the power to make 
internal improvements is municipal ; therefore it belongs to the State 
governments alone. I deny both the premises and the conclusion. 
If the gentleman had affirmed that certain municipal powers, and the 
great mass of them, belong to the State governments, his proposition 
would have been incontrovertible. But, if he had so qualified it, it 
would not have assisted the gentleman at all in his conclusion. But 
surely the power of taxation — the power to regulate the value of coin 
— the power to establish a uniform standard of weights and mea- 
sures — to establish post-offices and post-roads — to regulate commerce 
among the several States — that in relation to the judiciary — besides 
many other powers indisputably belonging to the federal government, 
are strictly municipal. If, as I understood the gentleman in the 
course of the subsequent part of his argument to admit, some muni- 
cipal powers belong to the one system, and some to the other, we 
shall derive very little aid from the gentleman's principle, in making 
the discrimination between the two. The question must ever remain 
open — whether any given power, and, of course, that in question, is 
or is not delegated to this government, or retained by the States ? 

The conclusion of the gentleman is, that all internal improvements 
belong to the State governments ; that they are of a limited and local 
character, and are not comprehended w r ithin the scope of the federal 
powers, which relate to external or general objects. That many, 
perhaps most internal improvements, partake of the character de- 
scribed by the gentleman, I shall not deny. But it is no less true 
., that there are others, emphatically national, which neither the policy, 
nor the power, nor the interests of any State will induce it to accom- 
plish, and which can only be effected by the application of the re- 
sources of the nation. The improvement of the navigation of the 
Mississippi furnishes a striking example. This is undeniably a great 
and important object. The report of a highly scientific and 'P.tcllj.- 
gf^it officer of the engineer corps, (which I hope will be s<K}£ 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 16S 

up and acted upon,) shows that the cost of any practicable improve- 
ments in the navigation of that river, in the present state of the in- 
habitants of its banks, is a mere trifle in comparison to the great bene- 
fits Avhich would accrue from it. I believe that about double the 
amount of the loss of a single steamboat and cargo, (the Tennesse,) 
would effect the whole improvement in the navigation of that river 
which ought to be at this time attempted. In this great object 
twelve States and two Territories are, in different degrees, interested. 
The power to effect the improvement of that river is surely not mu- 
nicipal, in the sense in which the gentleman uses the term. If it 
were, to which of the twelve States and two Territories concerned 
does it belong ? It is a great object, which can only be effected by a 
confederacy. And here is existing that confederacy, and no other 
can lawfully exist ; for the constitution prohibits the States, imme- 
diately interested, from entering into any treaty or compact with 
-?ach other. Other examples might be given to show that, if even 
the power existed, the inclination to exert it would not be felt, to 
effectuate certain improvements eminently calculated to promote thc> 
prosperity of the Union. Neither of the three States, nor all of them 
united, through which the Cumberland road passes, would ever have 
erected that road. Two of them would have thrown in every impe 
diment to its completion in their power. Federative in its character, 
it could only have been executed so far by the application of federa- 
tive means. Again : the contemplated canal through New Jersey • 
that to connect the waters of the Chesapeake and Delaware ; that to 
unite the Ohio and the Potomac, are all objects of a general and fed- 
erative nature, in which the States through which they may sever- 
ally pass cannot be expected to feel any such special interest as will 
lead to their execution. Tending, as undoubtedly they would do, to 
promote the good of the whole, the power and the treasure of the 
whole must be applied to their execution, if they are ever consum- 
mated. 

I do not think, then, that we should be at all assisted in expound- 
ing the constitution of the United States, by the principle which the 
gentleman from Virginia has suggested in respect to municipal powers. 
The powers of both governments are undoubtedly municipal, often 
operating 'up\>n the same subject. I think abetter rule than that 
which the gentleman furnished for interpreting the constitution, might 

be deduced from an attentive consideration of the peculiar character 

46 



106 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of the articles of confederation, as contrasted with that of the present 
constitution. By those articles, the powers of the thirteen United 
States were exerted collaterally. They operated through an inter- 
mediary They were addressed to the several States, and their exe- 
cution depended upon the pleasure and the co-operation of the States 
individually. The States seldom fulfilled the expectations of the 
general government in regard to its requisitions, and often wholly 
disappointed them. Languor and debility, in the movement of the 
old confederation, were the inevitable consequence of that arrange- 
ment of power. By the existing constitution, the powers of the gen- 
eral government act directly on the persons and things within its 
scope, without the intervention or impediments incident to an inter- 
mediary. In executing the great trust which the constitution of the 
United States creates, we must, therefore, reject that interpretation 
of its provisions which would make the general government depend- 
ant upon those of the States for the execution of any of its powers ; 
and may safely conclude that the only genuine construction would be 
that which should enable this government to execute the great pur- 
poses of its institution, without the co-operation, and, if indispensably 
necessary, even against the will of any particular State. This is the 
characteristic difference between the two systems of government, of 
which we should never lose sight. Interpreted in the one way, we 
shall relapse into the feebleness and debility of the old confederacy. 
In the other, we shall escape from its evils, and fulfil the great pur- 
poses which the enlightened framers of the existing constitution in- 
tended to effectuate. The importance of this essential difference in 
the two forms of government, will be shown in the future progress 
of the argument. 

Before I proceed to comment on those parts of the constitution 
which appear to me to convey the power in question, I hope I shall 
be allowed to disclaim, for my part, several sources whence others 
have deduced the authority. The gentleman from Virginia seemed 
to think it remarkable that the friends of the power should disagree 
so much among themselves ; and to draw a conclusion against its 
existence from the fact of this discrepancy. But I can see nothing 
extraordinary in this diversity of views. What is more common than 
for different men to contemplate the same subject under various as- 
pects ? Such is the nature of the I uman mind, that enlightened men, 
perfectly upright in their intentions, differ in their opinions on almost 



£*» INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 16? 

avery topic that can be mentioned. It is rather a presumption in 
favor of the cause which I am humbly maintaining, that the same 
result is attained by so many various modes of reasoning. But, it 
contrariety of views might be pleaded with any effect against the ad- 
vocates of the disputed power, it is equally available against our op- 
ponents. There is, for example, not a very exact coincidence in 
opinion between the President of the United States and the gentle- 
man from Virginia. The President says, (page 25 of his book,) 

" The use of the existing road, by the stage, mail-carrier, or post-boy, in passing 
over it, as others do, is all that would be thought of; the jurisdiction and soil re- 
maining to the State, with a right in the Slate, cr those authorized by its legislature, 
■ o change the road at pleasure." 

Again, page 27, the President asks : 

" If the United States possessed the power contended for under this grant, might 
aey not, in adopting the roads of the individual States, for the carriage of the mail, 
rs has been done, assume jurisdiction over them, and preclude a right to interfere 
with or alter them V 

They both agree that the general government does not possess the 
power. The gentleman from Virginia admits, if I understood him 
correctly, that the designation of a State road as a post-road, so far 
withdraws it from the jurisdiction of the State, that it cannot be after- 
wards put down or closed by the State ; and in this he claims for the 
general government more power than the President concedes to it. 
The President, on the contrary, pronounces, that " the absurdity of 
such a pretension" (that is, preventing, by the designation of a post- 
road, the power of the State from altering or changing it) " must be 
apparent to all who examine it!" The gentleman thinks that the 
designation of a post-road withdraws it entirely, so far as it is used 
for that purpose, from the power of the whole State ; whilst the Pre- 
sident thinks it absurd to assert that a mere county -court may not 
defeat the execution of a law of the United States ! The President 
thinks that, under the power of appropriating the money of the United 
States, Congress may apply it to any object of internal improvement, 
provided it does not assume any territorial jurisdiction ; and, in this 
respect, he claims for the general government more power than the 
gentleman from Virginia assigns to it. And I must own, that I so 
far coincide with the gentleman from Virginia. If the power can be 
traced to no more legitimate source than to that of appropriating the 
public treasure, I will yield the question. 



168 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

The truth is, that there is no specific grant, in the constitution, of 
<he power of appropriation ; nor is any such requisite. It is a result 
ing power. The constitution vests in Congress the power of taxa- 
tion, with but few limitations, to raise a public revenue. It then 
enumerates the powers of Congress. And it follows, of necessity, 
that Congress has the right to apply the money, so raised, to the exe- 
cution of the powers so granted. The clause which concludes the 
enumeration of the granted powers, by authorizing the passage of all 
laws, n necessary and proper" to effectuate them, comprehends the 
power of appropriation. And the framers of the constitution recog- 
nise it by the restriction that no money shall be drawn from the trea- 
sury but in virtue of a previous appropriation by law. It is to m© 
wonderful how the President could have brought his mind to the con- 
clusion, that., under the power of appropriation, thus incidentally exist- 
ing, a right could be set up, in its nature almost without limitation_ 
to employ the public money. He combats with great success and 
much ability, any deduction of power from the clause relating to the 
general welfare. He shows that the effect of it would be to overturn, 
or render useless and nugatory, the careful enumeration of our powers ; 
and that it would convert a cautiously limited government into one 
without limitation. The same process of reasoning by which his 
mind was brought to this just conclusion, one would have thought, 
should have warned him against his claiming, under the power of 
appropriation, such a vast latitude of authority. He reasons strongly 
against the power, as claimed by us, harmless, and beneficent, and 
limited as it must be admitted to be, and yet he sets up a power 
boundless in its extent, unrestrained to the object of internal improve- 
ments, and comprehending the whole scope of human affairs ! For, 
if the power exists, as he asserts it, what human restraint is there 
upon it ? He does, indeed, say, that it cannot be exerted so as to 
interfere with the territorial jurisdiction of the States. But this is a 
restriction altogether gratuitous, flowing from the bounty of the Pre- 
sident, and not found in the prescriptions of the constitution. If we 
have a right, indefinitely, to apply the money of the government to 
internal improvements, or to any other object, what is to prevent the 
application of it to the purchase of the sovereignty itself of a State, 
if a State were mean enough to sell its sovereignty — to the purchase 
of kingdoms, empires, the globe itself? With an almost unlimited 
power of taxation, and, after the revenue is raised, with a right to 
apply it under no other limitations than those which the Pres : Vn<:'s 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. Itfc* 

caution has suggested, I cannot see what other human power is 
needed. It has been said, by Ciesar or Bonaparte, no doubt thought 
by both, that with soldiers enough, they could get money enough ; 
and, with money enough, they could command soldiers enough. Ac- 
cording to the President's interpretation of the constitution, one of 
these great levers of public force and power is possessed by this gov- 
ernment. The President seems to contemplate, as fraught with great 
danger, the power, humbly as it is claimed, to effect the internal im- 
provement of the country, and, in his attempt to overthrow it, sets 
up one of infinitely greater magnitude. The quantum of power 
which we claim over the subject of internal improvement, is, it is 
true, of greater amount and force than that which results from the 
President's view of the constitution ; but then it is limited to the ob- 
ject of internal improvements ; whilst the power set up by the Presi- 
dent has no such limitation ; and, in effect, as I conceive, has no 
limitation whatever, but that of the ability of the people to bear 
taxation. 

With the most profound respect for the President, and after the 
most deliberate consideration of his argument, I cannot agree 
with him. I cannot think that any political power accrues to 
this government, from the mere authority which it possesses to ap- 
propriate the public revenue. The power to make internal improve- 
ments draws after it, most certainly, the right to appropriate money to 
consummate the object. But I cannot conceive that this right of 
appropriation draws after it the power of internal improvements. The 
appropriation of money is consequence, not cause. It follows ; it 
does not precede. According to the order of nature, we first deter- 
mine upon the object to be accomplished, and then appropriate the 
money necessary to its consummation. According to the order of the 
constitution, the power is denned, and the application, that is, the 
appropriation of the money requisite to its effectuation, follows as a 
necessary and proper means. The practice of congressional legisla- 
tion is conformable to both. We first inquire what we may do, 
and provide by law for its being done, and we then appropriate, by 
another act of legislation, the money necessary to accomplish the 
specified object. The error of the argument lies in its beginning to-, 
soon. It supposes the money to be in the treasury, and then seeks 
to disburse it. But how came it there ? Congress cannot impose 
taxes without an object. Their imposition must be in reference U? 



170 fePEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

the whole mass of our powers, to the general purposes of government 
or wit] the view to the fulfilment of some of those powers, or to the 
attainment of some of those purposes. In either case, we consult the 
constitution, and ascertain the extent of the authority which is con- 
fided t. us. We cannot, constitutionally, lay the taxes without re- 
gard tc the extent of our powers ; and then, having acquired the 
money oi the public, appropriate it, because we have got it, to any 
object indefinitely. 

Nor do I claim the power in question, from the consent or grant 
of any particular State or States, through which an object of internal 
improvement may pass. It might, indeed, be prudent to consult a 
State, through which an improvement might happen to be carried, 
from considerations of deference and respect to its sovereign power ; 
and fiom a disposition to maintain those relations of perfect am' \ 
which are ever desirable, between the general and State governments. 
But the power to establish the improvement must be found in the 
constitution, or it does not exist. And what is granted by all, it can- 
not be necessary to obtain the consent J>f some to perform. 

The gentleman from Virginia, in speaking of incidental powers, 
has used a species of argument which I entreat him candidly to 
reconsider. He has said, that the chain of cause and effect is 
without end ; that if we argue from a power expressly granted to all 
others, which might be convenient or necessary to its execution, there 
are no bounds to the power of this government ; that, for example, 
under the power " to provide and maintain a navy," the right might 
be assumed to the timber necessary to its construction, and the soil 
on which it grew. The gentleman might have added, the acorns 
from which it sprang. What, upon the gentleman's own hypothesis 
ought to have been his conclusion ?• That Congress possessed r 
power to provide and maintain a navy. Such a conclusion wouh* 
have been quite as logical, as that Congress has no power over int t 
nal improvements, from thepossible lengths to which this power maj 
be pushed. No one ever has, or can, controvert the existence of 
incidental powers. We may apply different rules for their extraction, 
but all must concur in the necessity of their actual existence. They 
result from the imperfections of our nature, and from the utter impos- 
sibility of foreseeing all the turns and vicissitudes in human affaiz-i. 
They cannot be defined. Much is attained when the power, theetKt 



ttlER^AL IMrROrEMWT. 



17l 



is specified and guarded. Keeping that constantly in view, the means 
necessary to its attainment imtst be left to the sound and responsible 
discretion of the public functionary. Intrench him as you please, 
employ what language you may, in the constitutional instrument, 
« necessary and proper," " indispensably necessary," or any other, and 
the question is still left open. Does the proposed measure fall within 
the scops of the incidental power, circumscribed as it may be ? Your 
safety against abuse must rest in his mioses', his integrity, his respon- 
sibility to the exercise of the elective franchise; finally, in the ulti- 
mate right, when all other redress fails, of an appeal to the remedy, 
to be used only in extreme cases, of forcible resistance against intoler- 
able oppression. 

Doubtless, by an extravagant and abusive enlargement of incidental 
powers, the State governments may be reduced within too narrow 
limits. Take any power, however incontestably granted to the gene- 
ral government, and employ that kind of process of reasoning in 
which the gentleman from Virginia is so skilful, by tracing it to its 
remotest effects, you may make it absorb the powers of the State 
governments. Pursue the opposite course ; take any incontestable 
power belonging to the State governments, and follow it out into all 
its possible ramifications, and you make it thwart and defeat the great 
operations of the government of the whole. This is the consequence 
of our systems. Their harmony k to be preserved only by forbear- 
ance, liberality , practical good sense, and mutual concession. Bring 
these dispositions into the administrations of our various institutions, 
and all the dreaded conflicts of authorities will he found to be per- 
fectly imaginary. 

I disclaim, for myself, several sources to which others have 
ascended, to arrive at the power in question. In making this dis- 
claimer, I mean to cast no imputation on them. I am glad to 
meet them by whatever road they travel, at the point of a con- 
stitutional conclusion. Nor do their positions weaken mine ; on 
the contrary, if correctly taken, and mine also are justified by fal: 
interpretation, they add strength to mine. But I feel it my duty, 
frankty and sincerely, to state my own views of the constitution. In 
coming to the ground on which I make my stand to maintain the 
power, and where I am ready to meet its antagonist, I am happy, in 
th* outset, to state my hearty concurrence with tleman froua 



V2 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

Virginia, in the old 1798 republican principles — now become federal 
also — by which the constitution is to be interpreted. I agree with 
him, that this is a limited government, that it has no powers but the 
granted powers ; and that the granted powers are those which are 
expressly enumerated, or such as, being implied, are necessary and 
proper to effectuate the enumerated powers. And, if I do not show 
the power over federative, national, internal improvements, to be 
fairly deducible, after the strictest application of these principles, I 
entreat the committee unanimously to reject the bill. The gentle- 
man from Virginia has rightly anticipated, that, in regard to roads, I 
claim the power under the grant to establish post offices and post 
roads. The whole question, on this part of the subject, turns upon 
the true meaning of this clause, and that again upon the genuine 
signification of the word "establish ." According to my understand- 
ing of it, the meaning of it is, to fix, to make firm, to build. Accord- 
ing to that of the gentleman from Virginia, it is to designate, to adopt. 
Grammatical criticism was to me always unpleasant, and I do not 
profess to be any proficient in it. But I will confidently appeal, in 
support of my definition, to any vocabulary whatever, of respectable 
authority, and to the common use of the word. That it cannot 
mean only adoption is to me evident, for adoption presupposps 
establishment, which is precedent in its very nature. That which does 
not exist, which is not established, cannot be adopted. There is, 
then, an essential difference between the gentleman from Virginia and 
me. I consider the power as original and creative ; he as derivative, 
adoptive. But I will show, out of the mouth of the President him- 
self, who agrees with the gentleman from Virginia, as to the sense of 
this word, that what I contend for is its genuine meaning. The 
President, in almost the first lines of his message to this House, of the 
fourth of May, 1S22. returning the Cumberland bill with his veto, 
says, "a power to establish turnpikes, with gates and tolls, &c, im- 
plies a power to adopt and execute a complete system of internal 
improvement." What is the sense in which the word "establish" 
is here used ? Is it not creative ; Did the President mean to adopt 
or designate some pre-existing turnpikes, with gates, &c, or for the 
first time, to set them up, under the authority of Congress ? Again, 
the President says, " If it exist as to one road, (that is, the power to 
lay duties of transit, and to take the land on a valuation,) it exists as 
to any other, and to as many roads as Congress may think proper to 
"establish." In what sense does he here employ the word ? The 



N INTERNAL improvement. 1,3 

truth is, that the President could employ no better than the constitu- 
tional word, and he is obliged to use it in the precise sense for which 
1 contend. But I go to a higher authority than that of the chief 
magistrate — to that of the constitution itself. In expounding that 
instrument, we must look at all its parts ; and if we find a word, the 
meaning of which it is desirable to obtain, we may safely rest upon 
the use which has been made of the same word in other parts of the 
instrument. The word " establish" is one of frequent recurrence in 
the constitution ; and I venture to say that it will be found uniformly 
to express the same idea. In the clause enumerating our powers' 
" Congress has power to establish a uniform rule of naturaliza- 
tion," &c. ; in the preamble, " We, the people of the United States, in 
order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, &c,do ordain 
and establish this constitution," &c. ; what pre-existing code of jus- 
tice was adopted ? Did not the people of the United States, in this 
nigh sovereign act, contemplate the construction of a code adapted to 
their federal condition ? The sense of the word, as contended for, is 
self-evident when applied to the constitution. 

I3ut let us look at the nature, object, and purposes of the power. 
The trust confided to Congress is one of the most beneficial charac- 
ter. It is the diffusion of information among all the parts of this re- 
public. It is the transmission and circulation of intelligence ; it is 
to communicate knowledge of the laws and acts of government, and 
to promote the great business of society in all its relations. This is a 
great trust, capable of being executed in a highly salutary manner. 
It can be executed only by Congress, and it should be as well per- 
formed as it can be, considering the wants and exigencies of govern- 
ment. And here I beg leave to advert to the principle s, hich I some 
time ago laid down, that the powers granted to this government are 
to be carried into execution by its own inherent force and energy, 
without necessary dependance upon the State governments. If my 
construction secures this object ; and if that of my opponents places 
the execution of this trust at the pleasure and mercy of the State 
governments, we must reject theirs, and assume mine. But the con- 
struction of the President does make it so dependant. He contends 
that we can only use as post roads those which the States shall have 
previously established ; that they are at liberty to alter, to change, 
and of course to shut them up at pleasure. It results from this view 

of tho President, tb/.i'. any of the great mail route.? cow existing tbo.t. 

47 



174 SPEECHES OF HENKf CLAV 

<br example, from south to north, may be closed at pleasure or by ca- 
price, by any one of the States, or its authorities, through which it 
passes — by that of Delaware, or any other. Is it possible that that 
construction of the constitution can be correct, which allows a law of 
the United States, enacted for the good of the whole, to be obstructed 
or defeated in its operation by any one of twenty-four sovereigns 
The gentleman from Virginia, it is true, denies the right of a State to 
close a road which has been designated as a post road. But suppose 
.he State, no longer having occasion to use it for its own separate and 
peculiar purposes, withdraws all care and attention from its preser- 
vation. Can the State be compelled to repair it ? No ! the gentle- 
man from Virginia must say ; and I will say, May not the general 
government repair this road which is abandoned by the State power? 
May it not repair it in the most efficacious manner ? And may it not 
protect and defend that which it has thus repaired, and which there 
is no longer an inteiest or inclination in the State to protect and de- 
fend ? Or does the gentleman mean to contend that a road may 
exist in the statute book, which a State will not, and the general gov- 
ernment cannot, repair and improve ? And what sort of an account 
should we render to the people of the United States, of the execution 
^f the high trust confided for their benefit to us, if we were to tell 
them that we had failed to execute it, because a State would not 
make a road for us ? 

The roads, and other internal improvements of States, are made in 
reference to their individual interests. It is the eye only of the whole, 
and the power of the whole, that can look to the interests of all. In 
the infancy of the government, and in the actual state of the public 
treasury, it may be the only alternative left us to use those roads, 
which are made for State purposes, to promote the national object, 
ill as they may be adapted to it. It may never be necessary to make 
more than a few great national arteries of communication, leaving to 
the States the lateral and minor ramifications. Ev» these should 
only be executed, without pressure upon the resources of the coun- 
try, and according to the convenience and ability of government. But, 
surely, in the performance of a great national duty imposed upon tins 
o-overnment, which has for its object the distribution of intelligence, 
civil, commercial, literary, and social, we ought to perform the sub- 
stance of the trust, and not content ourselves with a mere inefficient 
naper execution of it. If I am right in these views, the p-i^er to 



OX INTERNAL IMlROVEMEilT. 175 

establish post roads being in its nature original and creative, and the 
government having adopted the roads made by State means only from 
its inability to exert the whole extent of its authority, the controvert- 
ed power is exjyressfy granted to Congress, and there is an end of the 
question. 

It ought to be borne in mind, that this power over roads was not 
contained in the articles of confederation, which limited Congress to 
the establishment of post-offices ; and that the general character of 
the present constitution, as contrasted with those articles, is that of 
J* an enlargement of power. But, if the construction of my opponents 
be correct, we are left precisely where the articles of confederation 
left us, notwithstanding the additional words contained in the present 
constitution. What, too, will the gentleman do with the first mem- 
ber of the clause to establish post offices ? Must Congress adopt, 
designate, some pre-existing office, established by State authority ? 
But there is none such. May it not then fix, build, create, establish 
offices of its own ? 

The gentleman from Virginia sought to alarm us by the awful em- 
phasis with which he set before us the total extent of post roads in 
the Union. Eighty thousand miles of post roads ! exclaimed the 
gentleman ; and you will assert for the general government jurisdic- 
tion, and erect turnpikes, on such an immense distance ? Not to-day, 
nor to-morrow ; but this government is to last, I trust, for ever ; we 
may at least hope it will endure until the wave of population, culti- 
vation, and intelligence shall have washed the Rocky mountains, and 
have mingled with the Pacific. And may we not also hope that the 
day will arrive when the improvements and the comforts of social life 
shall spread over the wide surface of this vast continent ? All this 
'^P is not to be suddenly done. Society must not be burdened or op- 
*| pressed. Things must be gradual and progressive. The same spe- 
cies of formidable array which the gentleman makes, might be exhib- 
ited in reference to the construction of a navy, or any other of the 
great purposes of government. We might be told of the fleets and 
vessels of great maritime powers, which whiten the ocean ; and tri- 
umphantly asked if we should vainly attempt to cope with or rival 
that tremendous power ? And we should shrink from the eflbrt, if 
we were to listen to his counsels, in hopeless despair. Yes, sir, it is 
a subject of peculiar delight to me to look forward to the proud 



.176 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

and happy period, distant as it may be, when circulation and associa- 
tion between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the Mexican gulf, shall 
be as free and perfect as they are at this moment in England, or in 
any other the most highly improved country on the globe. In the 
mean time, without bearing heavily upon any of our important inter- 
ests, let us apply ourselves ..o the accomplishment of what is most 
practicable, and immediately necessary. 

But what most staggers my honorable friend, is the jurisdiction 
over the sites of roads, and other internal improvements, which he 
supposes Congress might assume ; and he considers the exercise of 
such a jurisdiction as furnishing the just occasion for serious alarm. 
Let us analyze the subject. Prior to the erection of a road under th° 
authority of the general government, there existed, in the State 
throughout which it passes, no actual exercise of jurisdiction over the 
ground which it traverses as a road- There was only the possibility 
of the exercise of such a jurisdiction, when the State should, if ever 
erect such a road. But the road is made by the authority of Congress, 
and out of the fact of its erection arises a necessity for its preser- 
vation and protection. The road is some thirty, or fifty, or sixty feet 
in width, and with that narrow limit passes through a part of the 
territory of the State. The capital expended in the making of the 
road incorporates itself with and becomes a part of the permanent and 
immoveable property of the State. The jurisdiction which is claim- 
ed for the general government, is that only which relates to the ne- 
cessary defence, protection, and preservation of the road. It is of a 
character altogether conservative. Whatever does not relate to the 
existence and protection of the road, remains with the State. Mur- 
ders, trespasses, contracts — all the occurrences and transactions of 
society upon the road, not affecting its actual existence, will fall with- 
in the jurisdiction of the civil or criminal tribunals of the State, as if 
the road had never been brought into exis^nce. How much remains 
to the State ! How little is claimed for thi general government ! Is 
it possible that a jurisdiction so limited, so harmless, so unambitious, 
can be regarded as seriously alarming to the sovereignty of the States ? 
Congress now asserts and exercises, without contestation, a power to 
protect the mail in its transit, by the sanction of all suitable penalties- 
The man who violates it is punished with death, or otherwise, ac- 
cording to the circumstances of the case. This power is exerted as 
incident to thit of establishing post offices and post roads. Is the 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 177 

protection of the thing in transitu a power more clearly deducible 
from the grant, than that of facilitating, by means of a practical road, 
its actual transportation ? Mails certainly imply roads, roads imply 
their own preservation, their preservation implies the power to pre- 
serve them, and the constitution tells us, in express terms, that we 
shall establish the one and the other. 

In respect to cutting canals, I admit the question is not quite so 
clear as in regard to roads. With respect to these, as I have endeav- 
ored to show, the power is expressly granted. In regard to canals, 
it appears to me to be fairly comprehended in, or deducible from, cer- 
tain granted powers. Congress has power to regulate commerce with 
foreign nations and among the several States. Precisely the same 
measure of power which is granted in the one case is conferred in the 
other. And the uniform practical exposition of the constitution, as 
to the regulation of foreign commerce, is equally applicable to that 
among the several States. Suppose, instead of directing the legisla- 
tion of this government constantly, as heretofore, to the object of 
foreign commerce, to the utter neglect of the interior commerce 
among the several States, the fact had been reversed, and now, for the 
first time, we were about to legislate for our foreign trade. Should 
we not, in that case, hear all the controverted objections made to the 
erection of buoys, beacons, light-houses, the surveys of coasts, and 
the other numerous facilities accorded to the foreign trade, which we 
now hear to the making of roads and canals ? Two years a^o, a sea- 
wall, or in other words, a marine canal, was authorized by an act of 
Congress in New Hampshire, and I doubt not that many of those 
voted for it who have now conscientious scruples on this bill. Yes, 
any thing, every thing may be done for foreign commerce ; any 
thing, every thing on the margin of the ocean ; but nothing for do- 
mestic trade ; nothing for the great interior of the country ! Yet, the 
equity and the beneficence of the constitution equally comprehena 
both. The gentleman does, indeed, maintain that there is a difference 
as to the character of the facilities in the two cases. But I put it to 
his own candor, whether the only difference is not that which springs 
from the nature of the two elements on which the two species of 
commerce are conducted — the difference between land and water. 
The principle is the same, whether you promote commerce by open- 
ing for it an artificial channel where now there is none, or by increas- 
ing the ease or safety with Avhich it may be conducted through a na*- 



178 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ural channel which the bounty of Providence has bestowed. In the 
one case, your object is to facilitate arrival and departure from the 
ocean to the laad. In the other, it is to accomplish the same object 
from the land to the ocean. Physical obstacles may be greater in the 
one case than in the other, but the moral or constitutional power 
equally includes both. The gentleman from Virginia has, to be sure, 
•contended that the power to make these commercial facilities was to 
be found in another clause of the constitution — that which enables 
Congress to obtain cessions of territory for specific objects, and grants 
to it an exclusive jurisdiction. These cessions may be obtained for 
the " erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, or other need- 
ful buildings." It is apparent that it relates altogether to military or 
naval affairs, and not to the regulation of commerce. How is the ma- 
rine canal covered by this clause ? Is it to be considered as a " needful 
building ?" The object of this power is perfectly obvious. The 
convention saw that, in military or naval posts, such as are indicated, 
it was indispensably necessary, for their proper government, to vest in 
Congress the power of exclusive legislation. If we claimed over ob- 
jects of internal improvement an exclusive jurisdiction, the gentleman 
might urge, with much force, the clause in question. But the claim 
of concurrent jurisdiction only is asserted. The gentleman professes 
himself unable to comprehend how concurrent jurisdiction can be ex- 
ercised by two different governments at the same time over the same 
persons and things. But, is not this the fact, with respect to the 
State and federal governments ? Does not every person and every 
thing, within our limits, sustain a two-fold relation to the State and 
to the federal authority ? The power of taxation, as exerted by both 
governments, that over the militia, besides many others, is concurrent. 
No doubt embarrassing cases may be conceived and stated by gentle- 
men of acute and ingenious minds. One was put to me yesterday 
Two canals aie desired, one by the federal, and the other by a State 
government ; and there is not a supply of water but for the feeder of 
one canal — which is to take it ? The constitution which ordains the 
supremacy of the laws of the United States, answers the question. 
The good of the whole is paramount to the good of a part. The same 
difficulty might possibly arise in the exercise of the incontestable 
power of taxation. We know that the imposition of taxes has its 
limits. There is a maximum which cannot be transcended. Suppose 
the citizen to be taxed by the general government to the utmost ex- 
ter.t of his ability, or a thing as much as it can possibly beec. and the 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT 17i 

State imposes a tax at the same time, which authority is to take it r 
Extreme cases of this sort may serve to amuse and to puzzle ; but 
Ihey will hardly ever arise in practice. And we may safely confide 
in the moderation, good sense, and mutual good dispositions of the 
two o-overnments, to guard against the imagined conflicts. 

It is said by the President, that the power to regulate commerce 
merely authorizes the laying of imposts and duties. But Congress 
has no power to lay imposts and duties on the trade among the seve- 
ral States. The grant must mean, therefore, something else. What 
is it ? The power to regulate commerce among the several States, 
if it have any meaning, implies authority to foster it, to promote it, to 
bestow on it facilities similar to those which have been conceded to 
cur foreign trade. It cannot mean only an empty authority to adopt 
regulations, without the capacity to give practical effect to them 
A.11 the powers of this government should be interpreted in reference 
to its first, its best, its greatest object, the union of these States. And 
is not that union best invigorated by an intimate, social, and commer- 
cial connexion between all the parts of the confederacy ? Can that 
be accomplished, that is, can the federative objects of this government 
be attained, but by the application of federative resources ? 

Of all the powers bestowed on this government, none are more 
clearly vested, than that to regulate the distribution of the intelli- 
gence, private and official, of the country ; to regulate the distribu- 
tion of commerce ; and to regulate the distribution of the physical 
force of the Union. In the execution of the high and solemn trust 
which these beneficial powers imply, we must look to the great ends 
which the framers of our admirable constitution had in view. We 
must reject, as wholly incompatible with their enlightened and bene 
ficent intentions, that construction of these powers which would re- 
suscitate all the debility and inefficiency of the ancient confederacy. 
In the vicissitudes of human affairs, who can foresee all the possible 
cases, in which it may be necessary to apply the public force, within 
or without the Union ? This government is charged with the use of 
it, to repel invasions, to suppress insurrections, to enforce the laws 
of the Union ; in short, for all the unknown and undefinable purposes 
)f war, foreign or intestine, wherever and however it may rage. Dur- 
ing its existence, may not government, for its effectual prosecution, 
order a <*oad to be made, or a canal to be cvt to relieve c 'v examrJ • 



180 SPEECHEo OF HENRY CLAY. 

an exposed point of the Union ? If, when the emergency comes, there 
is a power to provide for it, that power must exist in the constitu- 
tion, and not in the emergency. A wise, precautionary, and paren- 
tal policy, anticipating danger, will beforehand provide for the hour 
of need. Roads and canals are in the nature of fortifications, since, 
if not the deposites of military resources, they enable you to bring 
into rapid action the military resources of he country, whatever they 
may be. They are better than any fortifications, because they serve 
the double purposes of peace and of Avar. They dispense in a great 
degree with fortifications, since they have all the effect of that con- 
centration at which fortifications aim. \ appeal from the precepts 
of the President to the practice of the President. While he denies to 
Congress the power in question, he does not scruple, upon his sole 
authority, as numerous instances in the statu* book will testify, to 
order, at pleasure, the opening of roads by ••.He military, and then 
come here to ask us to pay for them. Nay, more, sir ; a subordinate 
but highly respectable officer of the executive government I believe 
would not hesitate to provide a boat or cause a bridge to be erected 
over an inconsiderable stream, to ensure the regular transportation of 
the mail. And it happens to be within my personal knowledge, that 
the head of the post-office department, as a prompt and vigilant 
officer should do, has recently despatched an agent to ascertain the 
causes of the late frequent vexatious failures of the great northern 
mail, and to inquire if a provision of a boat or bridge over certain 
small streams in Maryland, which have produced them, would not 
prevent their recurrence. 

I was much surprised at one argument of the honorable gentleman - 
He told the House, that the constitution had carefully guarded against 
inequality, among the several States, in the public burdens, by cer- 
tain restrictions upon taxation ; that the effect of the adoption of a 
system of internal improvements would be to drav the resources 
from one part of the Union, and to expend them in the improvements 
of another ; and that the spirit, at least, of the constitutional equality 
\ would be thus violated. From the nature of things, the constitution 
could not specify the theatre of the expenditure of the public treasure. 
That expenditure, guided by and look : .ig to the public good, must be 
made, necessarily, where it will most sulserve the interests of the 
whole Union. The argument is, that the locale of the collection of 
the public contributions, and the locale of their disbursement, should 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 181 

j the same. Now, sir, let us carry this argument out ; and no man 
is more capable than the ingenious gentleman from Virginia, of trac- 
ing an argument to its utmost consequences. The locale of the col- 
let tion of the public revenue is the pocket of the citizen ; and, to ab- 
stain from the violation of the principle of equality adverted to by the 
gentleman, we should restore back into each man's pocket precisely 
what was taken from it. If the principle contended for be true, we 
are habitually violating it. We raise about twenty millions of dol- 
lars, a very large revenue, considering the actual distresses of the 
country. And, sir, notwithstanding all the puffing, flourishing state- 
ments of its prosperity, emanating from printers who are fed upon the 
pap of the public treasury, the whole country is in a condition of very 
great distress. Where is this vast revenue expended ? Boston, New 
York, the great capitals of the north, are the theatres of its disburse- 
ment. There the interest upon the public debt is paid. There the 
expenditure in the building, equipment, and repair of the national 
vessels takes place. There all the great expenditures of the govern- 
ment necessarily concentrate. This is no cause of just complaint. 
It is inevitable, resulting from the accumulation of capital, the state 
of the arts, and other circumstances belonging to our great cities. 
But, sir, if there be a section of this Union having more right than 
any other to complain of this transfer of the circulating medium from 
one quarter of the Union to another, the west, the poor west — 

[Here Mr. Barbour explained. He had meant that the constitution limited Con- 
gress as to the proportions of revenue to be drawn from the several States; but 
the principle of this provision would be vacated by internal improvements of immense 
expense, and yet of a local character. Our public ships, to be sure, are built at the 
seaports, but they do not remain there. Their home is the mountain wave ; but 
internal improvements are essentially local ; they touch the soil of the States, and 
their benefits, at least the largest part of them, are confined to the States where 
they exist.] 

The explanation of the gentleman has not materially varied the 

argument. He says the home of our ships is the mountain wave. 

Sir, if the ships go to sea, the money with which they are built, or 

refitted, remains on shore, and the cities where the equipment takes 

place derive the benefit of the expenditure. It requires no stretch 

of the imagination to conceive the profitable industry — the axes, the 

hammers, the saws — the mechanic arts, which are put in motion by 

this expenditure. And all these, and other collateral advantages, are 

enjoyed by the seaports. The navy is built for the interest of the 

48 



182 SPEECHE6 OF HENRY CLAY- 

■whole Internal improvements of that general, federative character, 
for which we contend, would also be for the interest of the whole. 
And I should think their abiding with us, and not going abroad on the 
vast deep, was rather cause of recommendation than objection. 

But, Mr. Chairman, if there be any part of this Union more likely 
than all others to be benefited by the adoption of the gentleman's 
principle, regulating the public expenditure, it is the w r est. There is 
a perpetual drain, from that embarrassed and highly distressed por- 
tion of our country, of its circulating medium to the east. There, 
but few and inconsiderable expenditures of the public money take 
place. There we have none of those public works, no magnificent 
edifices, forts, armories, arsenals, dockyards, &c, which, more or less, 
are to be found in every Atlantic State. In at least seven States be- 
yond the Alleghany, not one solitary public work of this government 
is to be found. If, by one of those awful and terrible dispensations 
of Providence which sometimes occur, this government should be 
annihilated, everywhere on the seaboard traces of its former existence 
would be found ; whilst we should not have, in the west, a single 
monument remaining, on which to pour out our affections and our 
regrets. Yet, sir, we do not complain. No portion of your popula- 
tion is more loyal to the Union, than the hardy freemen of the west 
Nothing can weaken or eradicate their ardent desire for its lasting 
preservation. None are more prompt to vindicate the interests 
and rights of the nation from all foreign aggression. Need I remind 
you of the glorious scenes in which they participated during the late 
war — a war in which they had no peculiar or direct interest, waged 
for no commerce, no seamen of theirs. But it was enough for them 
that it was a war demanded by the character and the honor of the 
nation. They did not stop to calculate its cost of blood or of trea- 
sure. They flew to arms ; they rushed down the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi, with all the impetuosity of that noble river. They sought 
the enemy. They found him at the beach. They fought ; they bled ; 
they covered themselves and their country with immortal glory. 
They enthusiastically shared in all the transports occasioned by our 
victories, whether won on the ocean or on the land. They felt, with 
the keenest distress, whatever disaster befell us. No, sir, I repeat it, 
neglect, injury itself, cannot alienate the affections of the west from 
this government. They cling to it, as to their best, their greatest, 
their last hope. You may impoverish them, reduce them to ruin, by 



ON INTERNAL IMPROVMENT. 183 

the mistakes of your policy, and you cannot drive them from you. 
They do not complain of the expenditure of the public money where 
the public exigencies require its disbursement. But, I put it to your 
candor, if you ought not, by a generous and national policy, to miti- 
gate, if not prevent, the evils resulting from the perpetual transfer of 
the circulating medium from the west to the east. One million and 
a half of dollars annually is transferred for the public lauds alone ; 
and almost every dollar goes, like him who goes to death — to a 
bourne from which no traveller returns. In ten years it will amount 
to fifteen millions ; in twenty, to — but I will not pursue the appall- 
ing results of arithmetic. Gentlemen who believe that these vast 
sums are supplied by emigrants from the east, labor under great 
error. There was a time when the tide of emigration from the east 
bore along with it the means to effect the purchase of the public do- 
main. But that tide has, in a great measure, now stopped. And, 
as population advances farther and farther west, it will entirely cease. 
The greatest migrating States in the Union, at this time, are Ken- 
tucky first, Ohio next, and Tennessee. The emigrants from those 
States carry with them, to the States and Territories lying beyond 
them, the circulating medium, which, being invested in the purchase 
of the public land, is transmitted to the points where the wants of 
government require it. If this debilitating and exhausting process 
were inevitable, it must be borne with manly fortitude. But we 
think that a fit exertion of the powers of this government would miti- 
gate the evil. We believe that the government incontestably pos- 
sesses the constitutional power to execute such internal improve- 
ments as are called for by the good of the whole. And we appeal to 
your equity, to your parental regard, to your enlightened policy, to 
perform the high and beneficial trust thus sacredly reposed. I am 
sensible of the delicacy of the topic to which I have reluctantly ad- 
verted, in consequence of the observations of the honorable gentle- 
man from Virginia. And I hope there will be no misconception of 
my motives in dwelling upon it. A wise and considerate govern- 
ment should anticipate and prevent, rather than wait for the opera- 
tion of causes of discontent. 

Let me ask, Mr. Chairman, what has this government done on the 
great subject of internal improvements, after so many years of its 
existence, and with such an inviting field before it ? You have made 
the Cumberland read, only. Gentlemen appear to have considered 



184 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAT. 

that a western road. They ought to recollect that not one stone has 
yet been broken, not one spade of earth has been yet removed in any 
western State. The road begins in Maryland, and it terminates at 
Wheeling. It passes through the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, 
and Virginia. All the direct benefit of the expenditure of the public 
money on that road, has accrued to those three States ; not one cent 
in any western State. And yet we have had to beg, entreat, suppli- 
cate you, session after session, to grant the necessary appropriations 
to complete the road. I have myself toiled until my powers have 
been exhausted and prostrated, to prevail on you to make the grant. 
We were actuated to make these exertions for the sake of the collat- 
eral benefit only to the west ; that we might have a way by which 
we should be able to continue and maintain an affectionate intercourse 
with our friends and brethren — that we might have a way to reach 
the capital of our country, and to bring our counsels, humble as they 
may be, to consult and mingle with yours in the advancement of the 
national prosperity. Yes, sir, the Cumberland road has only reached 
the margin of a western State ; and, from some indications which 
have been given during this session, I should apprehend it would 
there pause for ever, if my confidence in you were not unbounded ; if 
I had not before witnessed that appeals were never unsuccessful to 
your justice, to your magnanimity, to your fraternal affection.* 

But, sir, the bill on your table is no western bill. It is emphati- 
cally a national bill, comprehending all, looking to the interests of the 
whole. The people of the west never thought of, never desired, 
never asked for, a system exclusively for their benefit. The system 
contemplated by this bill looks to great national objects, and proposes 
the ultimate application to their accomplishment of the only means 
by which they can be effected, the means of the nation — means which, 
if they be withheld from such objects, the Union, I do most solemnly 
believe, of these now happy and promising States, may, at some dis- 
tant (I trust a far, far distant) day, be endangered and shaken at it* 
centre. 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 



In the House of Representatives, January 20, 1824. 



[The resolution of Mr. Webster, looking to a recognition of the Independence 
of Greece, and making an appropriation to send thither a Political Agent, with the 
amendment of Mr. Poinsett, disclaiming such recognition, but proposing instead a 
declaration of the sympathy of the United States with the Greeks in their struggle 
for Independence, being under consideration, Mr. Clay said :] 

In rising, let me state distinctly the substance of the original propo- 
sition of the gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Webster,) with 
that of the amendment of the gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. 
Poinsett.) The resolution proposes a provision of the means to de- 
fray the expense of deputing a commissioner or agent to Greece, 
whenever the President, who knows, or ought to know, the disposi- 
tion of all the European powers, Turkish or Christian, shall deem it 
proper. The amendment goes to withhold any appropriation to that 
object, but to make a public declaration of our sympathy with the 
Greeks, and of our good wishes for the success of their cause. And 
how has this simple, unpretending, unambitious, this harmless propo- 
sition, been treated in debate ? It has been argued as if it offered aid 
to the Greeks ; as if it proposed the recognition of the independence 
of their government ; us a measure of unjustifiable interference in the 
internal affairs of a foreign state, and finally, as war. And they who 
thus argue the question, whilst they absolutely surrender themselves 
to the illusions of their own fervid imaginations, and depict, in glow- 
ing terms, the monstrous and alarming consequences which are to 
spring out of a proposition so simple, impute to us, who are its hum- 
ble advocates, quixotism, quixotism ! Whilst they are taking the 
saost extravagant and boundless range, and arguing anything and 



196 SPEECHES OP HENRY CLAY. 

everything bift the question before the Committee, they accuse us of 
enthusiasm, of giving the reins to excited feeling, of being transported 
by our imaginations. No, sir, the resolution is no proposition for aid, 
nor for recognition, nor for interference, nor for war. 

I know that there are some who object to the resolution on account 
of the source from which it has sprung — who except to its mover, as 
if its value or importance were to be estimated by personal considera- 
tions. I have long had the pleasure of knowing the honorable gen- 
tleman from Massachusetts, and sometimes that of acting with him : 
and I have much satisfaction in expressing my high admiration of his 
great talents. But I would appeal to my republican friends, those 
faithful sentinels of civil liberty with whom I have ever acted, shall 
we reject a proposition, consonant to our principles, favoring the good 
and great cause, on account of the political character of its mover ? 
Shall we not rather look to the intrinsic merits of the measure, and 
seek every fit occasion to strengthen and perpetuate liberal principles 
and noble sentiments ? If it were possible for republicans to cease to 
be the champions of human freedom, and if federalists become its only 
supporters, I would cease to be a republican ; I would become a fed- 
eralist. The preservation of the public confidence can only be se- 
cured, or merited, by a faithful adherence to the principles by which 
it has been acquired. 

Mr. Chairman, is it not extraordinary that for these two successive 
years the President of the United States should have been freely in- 
dulged, not only without censure, but with universal applause*, to 
express the feelings which both the resolution and the amendment 
proclaim, and yet, if this House venture to unite with him, the most 
awful consequences are to ensue ? From Maine to Georgia, from 
the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, the sentiment of appro* 
bation has blazed with the rapidity of electricity. Everywhere the 
interest in the Grecian cause is felt with the deepest intensity, ex 
pressed in every form, and increases with every new day and pass- 
ing hour. And are the representatives of the people alone to be insu- 
lated from the common moral atmosphere of the whole land ? Shall 
we shut ourselves up in apathy, and separate ourselves from our 
country, from our constituents, from our chief magistrate, from our 
principles ? 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 187 

The measure has been most unreasonably magnified. Gentlemen 
speak of the watchful jealousy of the Turk, and seem to think the 
slightest movement of this body will be matter of serious speculation 
at Constantinople. I believe that neither the Sublime Porte, nor the 
European allies, attach any such exaggerated importance to the acts 
and deliberations of this body. The Turk will, in all probability, 
never hear of the names of the gentlemen who either espouse or op- 
pose the resolution. It certainly is not without a value; but that 
value is altogether moral ; it throws our little tribute into the vast 
stream of public opinion, which sooner or later must regulate the 
physical action upon the great interests of the civilized world. But, 
rely upon it, the Ottoman is not about to declare war against us be- 
cause this unoffending proposition has been offered by my honorable 
friend from Massachusetts, whose name, however distinguished and 
eminent he may be in our own country, has probably never reached 
the ears of the Sublime Porte. The allied powers are not going to 
be thrown into a state of consternation, because we appropriate some 
two or three thousand dollars to send an agent to Greece. 

The question has been argued as if the Greeks would be exposed 
to still more shocking enormities by its passage ; as if the Turkish 
cimeter would be rendered still keener, and dyed deeper and yet 
deeper in Christian blood. Sir, if such is to be the effect of the decla- 
ration of our sympathy, the evil has been already produced. That 
declaration has been already publicly and solemnly made by the Chief 
Magistrate of the United States, in two distinct messages. It is this 
document which commands at home and abroad the most fixed and 
universal attention ; which is translated into all the foreign journals ; 
read by sovereigns and their ministers ; and, possibly, in the divan 
itself. But our resolutions are domestic, for home consumption, and 
rarely, if ever, meet imperial or royal eyes. The President, in his 
messages, after a most touching representation of the feelings excited 
by the Greek insurrection, tells you that the dominion of the Turk is 
gone for ever ; and that the most sanguine hope is entertained that 
Greece will achieve her independence. Well, sir, if this be the fact, 
if the allied powers themselves may, possibly, before we again assem- 
ble in this hall, acknowledge that independence, is it not fit and be- 
coming in this House to make provision that our President shall be 
among the foremost, or at least not among the last, in that acknowl- 
edgment ? So far from this resolution being likely to whet the 



188 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

vengeance of the Turk against his Grecian victims, I believe its ten 
dency will be directly the reverse. Sir, with all his unlimited power, 
and in all the elevation of his despotic throne, he is at last but man, 
made as we are, of flesh, of muscle, of bone and sinew. He is sus- 
ceptible of pain, and can feel, and has felt the uncalculating valor of 
American freemen in some of his dominions. And when he is made 
to understand that the executive of this government is sustained by 
the representatives of the people ; that our entire political fabric, 
base, column, and entablature, rulers and people, with heart, soul, 
mind, and strength, are all on the side of the gallant people whom 
he would crush, he will be more likely to restrain than to increase 
his atrocities upon suffering and bleeding Greece 

The gentleman from JNew Hampshire (Mr. Bartlett) has made, 
on this occasion, a very ingenious, sensible, and ironical speech — an 
admirable debut for a new member, and such as I hope we shall often 
have repeated on this floor. But, permit me to advise my young 
friend to remember the maxim, " that sufficient unto the day is the 
evil thereof ;" and when the resolution* on another subject, which 
I had the honor to submit, shall come up to be discussed, I hope he 
will not content himself with saying, as he has now done, that it is a 
very extraordinary one ; but that he will then favor the House with 
an argumentative speech, proving that it is our duty quietly to see 
laid prostrate every fortress of human hope, and to behold, with in- 
difference, the last outwork of liberty taken and destroyed. 

It has been said, that the proposed measure will be a departure 
from our uniform policy with respect to foreign nations ; that it will 
provoke the wrath of the holy alliance ; and that it will, in effect, 
be a repetition of their own offence, by an unjustifiable interposition 
in the domestic concerns of other powers. No, sir, not even if it 
authorized, which it does not, an immediate recognition of Grecian 
independence. What has been the settled and steady policy and 
practice of this government, from the days of Washington to the 
present moment ? In the case of France, the father of his country 
and his successors received Genet, Fouchet, and all the French min- 

* The resolution, offered by Mr. Clay, declaring that the United States would not 
ree with indifference any interference of the hoLy alliance in behalf of Spain against 
ihe new American republics. 



ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 189 

isters who followed them, whether sent from king, convention, an 
archy, emperor, or king again. The rule we have ever followed has 
been this : to look at the state of the fact, and to recognise that gov- 
ernment, be it what it might, which was in actual possession of sov- 
ereign power. When one government is overthrown, and another is 
established on its ruins, without embarrassing ourselves with any of 
the principles involved in the contest, we have ever acknowledged 
the new and actual government as soon as it had undisputed exist- 
ence. Our simple inquiry has been, is there a government de facto? 
We have had a recent and memorable example. When the allied 
ministers retired from Madrid, and refused to accompany Ferdinand 
to Cadiz, ours remained, and we sent out a new minister who sought 
at that port to present himself, to the constitutional king. Why? 
Because it was the government of Spain, in fact. Did the allies de- 
clare war against us for the exercise of this incontestable attribute of 
sovereignty ? Did they even transmit any diplomatic note, com- 
plaining of our conduct .- The line of our European polic}' has been 
so plainly described, that it is impossible to mistake it. We are to 
abstain from all interference in their disputes, to take no part in their 
contests, to make no entangling alliances with any of them ; but to 
assert and exercise our indisputable right of opening and maintaining 
diplomatic intercourse with any actual sovereignty. 

There is reason to apprehend that a tremendous storm is ready to 
burst upon our happy country — one which may call into action all our 
vigor, courage, and resources. Is it wise or prudent, in preparing to 
breast the storm, if it must come', to talk to this nation of its incom- 
petency to repel European aggression, to lower its spirit, to weaken 
its moral energy, and to qualify it for easy conquest and base submis- 
sion ? If there be any reality in the dangers which are supposed to 
encompass us, should we not animate the people, and adjure them to 
believe, as I do, that our resources are ample ; and that we can bring 
into the field a million of freemen, ready to exhaust their last drop of 
blood, and to spend the last cent in the defence of the country, its 
liberty, and its institutions ? Sir, are these, if united, to be conquered 
by all Europe combined ? All the perils to which we can possibly 
be exposed, are much less in reality than the imagination is disposed 
to paint them. And they are best averted by an habitual contempla- 
tion of them, by reducing them to their true dimensions. If combin- 
ed Europe is to precipitate itself upon us, we cannot too soon begin 

49 



190 SPEECHES OF HENRY CI.AY. 

to invigorate our strength, to teach our heads to think, our hearts to 
conceive, and our arms to execute, the high and noble deeds which 
belong to the character and glory of our country. The experience 
of the world instructs us, that conquests are already achieved, which 
are boldly and firmly resolved on ; and that men only become slaves 
who have ceased to resolve to be free. If we wish to cover ourselves 
with the best of all armor, let us not discourage our people, let us 
stimulate their ardor, let us sustain their resolution, let us proclaim 
to them that we feel as they feel, and that, with them, we are deter- 
mined to live or die like freemen. 

Surely, sir, we need no long or learned lectures about the nature 
©f government, and the influence of property or ranks on society. 
We may content ourselves with studying the true character of our 
own people ; and with knowing that the interests are confided to us 
of a nation capable of doing and suffering all things for its liberty. 
Such a nation, if its rulers be faithful, must be invincible. I well re- 
member an observation made to me by the most illustrious female* 
of the age, if not of her sex. All history showed, she said, that a 
nation was never conquered. ISo, sir, no united nation that resolves 
to be free, can be conquered. And has it come to this ? Are we so 
humbled, so low, so debased, that we dare not express our sympathy 
for suffering Greece, that we dare not articulate our detestation of 
the brutal excesses of which she has been the bleeding victim, lest 
we might offend some one or more of their imperial and royal majes- 
ties ? If gentlemen are afraid to act rashly on such a subject, sup- 
pose, Mr. Chairman, that Ave unite in an humble petition, addressed 
to their majesties, beseeching them that of their gracious condescen- 
sion, they ;vould allow us to express our feelings and our sympathies 
How shall it run ? " We, the representatives of the free people of 
the United States of America, humbly approach the thrones of your 
imperial and royal majesties, and supplicate that, of your imperial and 
.royal clemency," — I cannot go through the disgusting recital — my 
lips have not yet learned to pronounce the sycophantic language of a 
degraded slave ! Are we so mean, so base, so despicable, that we 
may not attempt to express our horror, utter our indignation, at the 
most brutal and atrocious war that ever stained earth or shocked 
high heaven ; at the ferocious deeds of a savage and infuriated sol- 

* Madam de Stael. 






ON THE GREEK REVOLUTION. 191 

diery, stimulated and urged on by the clergy of a fanatical and inimi- 
cal religion, and rioting in all the excesses of blood and butchery, at 
the mere details of which the heart sickens and recoils ! 

If the great body of Christendom can look on calmly and coolly, 
whilst all this is perpetrated on a Christian people, in its own imme- 
diate vicinity, in its very presence, let us at least evince that one of 
its remote extremities is susceptible of sensibility to Christian wrongs, 
and capable of sympathy for Christian sufferings ; that in this remote 
quarter of the world, there are hearts not yet closed against compas- 
sion for human woes, that can pour out their indignant feelings at the 
oppression of a people endeared to us by every ancient recollection, 
and every modern tie. Sir, the committee has been attempted to be 
alarmed by the dangers to our commerce in the Mediterranean ; and 
a wretched invoice of figs and opium has been spread before us to re- 
press our sensibilities and to eradicate our humanity. Ah ! sir, " what 
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul," 
or what shall it avail a nation to save the whole of a miserable trade, 
and lose its liberties ? 

On the subject of the other independent American States, hitherto 
vt has not been necessary to depart from the rule of our foreign rela- 
tions, observed in regard to Europe. Whether it will become us to 
do so or not, will be considered when we take up another resolution, 
lying on the table. But we may not only adopt this measure ; we 
may go further ; we may recognise the government in the Morea, if 
actually independent, and it will be neither war nor cause of war, nor 
any violation of our neutrality. Besides, sir, what is Greece to the 
allies ? A part of the dominions of any of them ? By no means . 
Suppose the people in one of the Philippine isles, or any other spot 
still more insulated and remote, in Asia or Africa, were to resist 
their former rulers, and set up and establish a new government, are 
we not to recognise them in dread of the holy allies ? If they are 
going to interfere, from the danger of the contagion of the example, 
here is the spot, our own favored land, where they must strike. This 
government, you, Mr. Chairman, and the body over which you pre- 
side, are the living and cutting reproach to allied despotism. If we 
are to offend them, it is not by passing this resolution. We are daily 
and hourly giving them cause of war. It is here, and in our free in- 
atitutions, that they will assail us. They will attack us because you 



192 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

sit beneath that canopy, and we are freely debating and deliberating 
upon the great interests of freemen, and dispensing the blessings of 
free government. They will strike, because we pass one of those 
bills on your table. The passage of the least of them, by our free 
authority, is more galling to despotic powers, than would be the adop- 
tion of this so much dreaded resolution. Pass it, and what do you 
do ? You exercise an indisputable attribute of sovereignty, for which 
you are responsible to none of them. You do the same when you 
perform any other legislative function ; no less. If the allies object 
to this measure, let them forbid us to take a vote in this House ; let 
them strip us of every attribute of independent government ; let them 
disperse us. 

Will gentlemen attempt to maintain that, on the principles of the 
law of nations, those allies would have cause of war ? If there be 
any principle which has been settled for ages, any which is founded 
in the very nature of things, it is that every independent State has the 
clear right to judge of the fact of the existence of other sovereign 
powers. I admit that there may be a state of inchoate initiative 
sovereignty, in which a new government, just struggling into being, 
cannot be said yet perfectly to exist. But the premature recognition 
of such new government can give offence justly to no other than its 
ancient sovereign. The right of recognition comprehends the right 
to be informed ; and the means of information must, of necessity, de- 
pend upon the sound discretion of the party seeking it. You may 
send out a commission of inquiry, and charge it with a provident at- 
tention to your own people and your own interests. Such will be 
the character of the proposed agency. It will not necessarily follow, 
that any public functionary will be appointed by the President. You 
merely grant the means by which the executive may act when he 
thinks proper. What does he tell you in his message ? That Greece 
is contending for her independence ; that all sympathize with her ; and 
that no power has declared against her. Pass this resolution, and 
what is the reply which it conveys to him ? " You have sent us 
grateful intelligence ; we feel warmly for Greece, and we grant you 
money, that, when you shall think it proper, when the interests of 
this nation shall not be jeoparded, you may depute a commissioner 
or public agent to Greece." The whole responsibility is then left 
where the constitution puts it. A member in his place may make a 
speech or proposition, the House may even pass a vote, in respect to 



OX THE QRKEK REVOLUTION. 193 

•our foreign affairs, which the President, with the whole field lying full 
before him, would not deem it expedient to effectuate. 

But, sir, it is not for Greece alone that I desire to see this measure 
adopted. It will give to her but little support, and that purely of a 
moral kind. It is principally for America, for the credit and charac- 
acter of our common country, for our own unsullied name, that I hope 
to see it pass. What, Mr. Chairman, appearance on the page of his- 
tory would a record like this exhibit ? " In the month of January, 
in the year of our Lord and Savior, 1824, while all European Chris- 
tendom beheld, with cold and unfeeling indifference, the unexampled 
wrongs and inexpressible misery of Christian Greece, a proposition 
was made in the Congress of the United States, almost the sole, the 
last, the greatest depository of human hope and human freedom, the 
representatives of a gallant nation, containing a million of freemen 
ready to fly to arms, while the people of that nation were spontane- 
ously expressing its deep-toned feeling, and the whole continent, by 
one simultaneous emotion, was rising, and solemnl}' and anxiously 
supplicating and invoking high Heaven to spare and succor Greece, 
and to invigorate her arms, in her glorious cause, while temples and 
senate houses were alike resounding with one burst of generous and 
holy sympathy ; — in the year of our Lord and Savior, that Savior of 
Greece and of us — a proposition was offered in the American Con- 
gress to send a messenger to Greece, to inquire into her state and 
condition, with a kind expression of our good wishes and our sympa- 
thies — and it was rejected !" Go home, if you can, go home, if you 
dare, to your constituents, and tell them that you voted it down — 
meet, if you can, the appalling countenances of those who sent you 
here, and tell them that you shrank from the declaration of your own 
sentiments — that you cannot tell how, but that some unknown dread, 
some indescribable apprehension, some indefinable danger, drove you 
from your purpose — that the spectres of cimeters, and crowns, and 
crescents, gleamed before you and alarmed you ; and that you sup- 
pressed all the noble feelings prompted by religion, by liberty, by 
national independence, and by humanity. I cannot bring myself to 
believe that such will be the feeling of a majority of the committee. 
But, for myself, though every friend of the cause should desert it, 
and I be left to stand alone with the gentleman from Massachusetts, 
I will give to his resolution the poor sanction of my unqualified 
approbation. 



ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS, 



In Reference to the Presidential Election of 1824-6 



[The year 1824 was signalized by a remarkable contest for the Presidency, be- 
tween the supporters respectively of John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, 
Andrew Jackson, and John C. Calhoun. Mr. Crawford, then Secretary of the 
Treasury, was first nominated by a caucus of 66 Democratic members of Congress, 
and was thence put forward as the regular candidate of the party ; but this assump- 
tion was resisted by the greater number, both in Congress and among the People ;. 
and Mr. Adams, the Secretary of State, Mr. Calhoun, lately Secretary of War, Mr. 
Clay, Speaker of the House, and General Jackson, were severally proposed by their 
friends in dillerent sections. Mr. Calhoun, finding his prospect desperate, finally 
withdrew, and threw his weight into the scale of General Jackson ; and the con- 
test gradually assumed a more regular shape, the friends of all the others in most 
States uniting against Mr. Crawford, who, as the caucus candidate, appeared most 
prominent in the canvass. In this way, the votes of North Carolina, New Jersey 
and some others, were given to General Jackson, by the aid of the Adams men, 
Mr. Crawford's strength being greater than that of either competitor, singly. Mr. 
Clay, aside from being the youngest of the remaining candidates, labored under the 
disadvantage of having a popular competitor in his own section of the Union, 
which, in a contest so independent of party considerations, was necessarily much 
against him. In the Electoral College, General Jackson received 99, Mr. Adams 
84, Mr. Crawford 41, and Mr. Clay 38 votes— (those of Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, 
and 7 from New York.) No one having a majority, the Constitution required that 
the election should now be made by the House of Representatives from among the 
three highest candidates, Mr. Clay being of course excluded. Being himself a 
member of Congress, and having many supporters and friends in that body, the 
course which Mr. Clay might think proper to pursue in this election, became a sub- 
ject of intense interest and universal speculation. With neither of the rival candi- 
dates were his relations those of intimate friendship, while with General Jackson, 
(who appeared to be the second choice of Kentucky,) they had for years been inter- 
rupted by the resentment manifested by the latter at the terms in which Mr. Clay 
spoke of his conduct in the Seminole War, in the Speech heretofore given. Mr. 
Crawford was then suffering under a disease which incapacitated him for business, 
and ultimately terminated his life. Mr. Clay decided that every consideration ot 
public duty required him to give his vote for Mr. Adams, which he did, and Mr. 
Adams was chosen. The moment his decision became known, a violent outcry of 
"Baigain and Corruption" was raised by the disappointed partisans of General 



ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 195 

Tackson, led by one Kremer, a Representative from Pennsylvania. In refutation 
of this charge, Mr. Clay issued the following Address to the People of the Congres- 
sional District composed of the counties of Fayette, Woodford, and Clarke, in 
Kentucky :] 

The relations of your representative and of your neighbor, in which 
I have so long stood, and in which I have experienced so marry strong 
proofs of your confidence, attachment, and friendship, having just 
been, the one terminated, and the other suspended, I avail myself of 
the occasion on taking, I hope a temporary, leave of you, to express 
my unfeigned gratitude for all your favors, and to assure you that 1 
shall cherish a fond and unceasing recollection of them. The extra- 
ordinary circumstances in which, during the late session of Congress, 
1 have been placed, and the unmerited animadversions which I have 
brought upon myself, for an honest and faithful discharge of my pub- 
lic duty, form an additional motive for this appeal to your candor and 
justice. If, in the office which I have just left, I have abused your 
confidence and betrayed your interests, I cannot deserve your sup- 
port in that on the duties of which I have now entered. On the 
contrary, should it appear that I have been assailed without just 
cause, and that misguided zeal and interested passions have singled 
me out as a victim, I cannot doubt that I shall continue to find, in the 
enlightened tribunal of the public, that cheering countenance and im- 
partial judgment, without which a public servant cannot possibly 
discharge with advantage the trust confided to him. 

It is known to you, that my name had been presented, by the re- 
spectable States of Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri, for the 
office of President, to the consideration of the American public, and 
that it had attracted some attention in other quarters of the Union. 
When, early in November last, I took my departure from the district 
to repair to this city, the issue of the Presidential election before the 
people was unknown. Events, however, had then so far transpired as 
to render it highly probable that there would be no election by the 
people, and that 1 should be excluded from the House of Represen- 
tatives. It became, therefore, my duty to consider, and to make lip 
an opinion on, the respective pretensions of the three gentlemen who 
might be returned, and at that early period I stated to Dr. Drake, 
one of the professors in the medical school of Transylvania Univer- 
sity, and to John J. Crittenden, Esq., of Frankfort, my determination 
to support Mr. Adams in preference to General Jackson. I wrote t(» 



196 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

4 

Charles Hammond, Esq., of Cincinnati, about the same time, and 
mentioned certain objections to the election of Mr. Crawford, (among 
which was that of his continued ill health,) that appeared to me al- 
most insuperable. During my journey hither, and up to near Christ- 
mas, it remained uncertain whether Mr. Crawford or myself would be 
returned to the House of Representatives. Up to near Christmas, 
all our information made it highly probable that the vote of Louisiana 
would be given to me, and that I should consequently be returned, 
to the exclusion of Mr. Crawford. And, while that propability was 
strong, I communicated to Mr. Senator Johnston, from Louisiana, 
my resolution not to allow my name, in consequence of the small 
number of votes by which it would be carried into the House, if I 
were returned, to constitute an obstacle, for one moment, to an elec- 
tion in the House of Representatives. 

During the month of December, and the greater part of January, 
strong professions of high consideration, and of unbounded admiration 
of me, were made to my friends, in the greatest profusion, by some 
of the active friends of all the returned candidates. Everybody pro- 
fessed to regret, after I was excluded from the House, that I had not 
been returned to it. I seemed to be the favorite of everybody. De- 
scribing my situation to a distant friend, I said to him, " I am enjoy- 
ing, whilst alive, the posthumous honors which are usually awarded 
to the venerated dead." A person not acquainted with human na- 
ture would have been surprised, in listening to these praises, that the 
object of them had not been elected by general acclamation. None 
made more or warmer manifestations of these sentiments of esteem 
and admiration than some of the friends of General Jackson. None 
were so reserved as those of Mr. Adams ; under an opinion, (as I 
have learned since the election,) which they early imbibed, that the 
western vote would be only influenced by its own sense of public 
duty ; and that if its judgment pointed to any other than Mr. Adams, 
nothing which they could do would secure it to him. These profes- 
sions and manifestations were taken by me for what they were worth. 
J I knew that the sunbeams would quickly disappear, after my opinion 
should be ascertained, and that they would be succeeded by a storm ; 
although I did not foresee exactly how it would burst upon my poor 
head. I found myself transformed from a candidate before the peo- 
ple, into an elector for the people. I deliberately examined the du- 
ties incident to this new attitude, and weighed all the facts before 



ADDRK3S TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 197 

me, upon which my judgment was to be formed or reviewed. If the 
eagerness of any of the heated partisans of the respective candidates 
suggested a tardiness in the declaration of my intention, I believed 
that the new relation in which I was placed to the subject, imposed 
on me an obligation to pay some respect to delicacy and decorum. 

Meanwhile, that very reserve supplied aliment to newspaper criti- 
cism. The critics could not comprehend how a man standing as I 
had stood toward the other gentlemen, should be restrained, by a 
sense of propriety, from instantly fighting under the banners of one 
of them, against the others. Letters were issued from the manufac- 
tory at Washington, to come back, after performing long journeys, 
for Washington consumption. These letters imputed to " Mr. Clay 
and his friends a mysterious air, a portentous silence," &c From 
dark and distant hints the progress was easy to open and bitter de- 
nunciation. Anonymous letters, full of menace and abuse, were al- 
most daily poured in on me. Personal threats were communicated 
to me, through friendly organs, and I was kindly apprized of all the 
glories of village effigies which awaited me. A systematic attack 
was simultaneously commenced upon me from Boston to Charles- 
ton, with an object, present and future, which it was impossible to 
mistake. No man but myself could know the nature, extent, and 
variety of means which were employed to awe and influence me. I 
bore them, I trust, as your representative ought to have borne them, 
and as became me. Then followed the letter, afterwards adopted as 
his ©wn, by Mr. Kremer, to the Columbian Observer. With its 
character and contents you are well acquainted. When I saw that 
letter, alleged to be written by a member of the very House over 
which I was presiding, who was so far designated as to be described 
as belonging to a particular delegation, by name, a member with 
whom I might be daily exchanging, at least on my part, friendly 
salutations, and who was possibly receiving from me constantly acts of 
courtesy and kindness, I felt that I could no longer remain silent. A 
crisis appeared to me to have arisen in my public life. I issued my 
card. I ought not to have put in it the last paragraph, because, al- 
though it does not necessarily imply the resort to a personal combat, 
it admits of that construction : nor will I conceal that such a possible 
issue was within my contemplation. I owe it to the community to say, 
that whatever heretofore I may have done, or, by inevitable circum- 
stances, might be forced to do, no man in it holds in deeper abhor- 

50 



198 SPEECHES Or HENRY CLAT, 

rence than I do, that pernicious practice. Condemned as it must be 
by the judgment and philosophy, to say nothing of the religion, of 
every thinking man, it is an affair of feeling about which we cannot, 
although we should, reason. Its true corrective will be found 
when all shall unite, as all ought to unite, in its unqualified pro- 
scription. 

A few days after the publication of my card, "Another Card," un- 
der Mr. Kremer's name, was published in the Intelligencer. The 
night before, as I was voluntarily informed, Mr. Eaton, a Senator 
from Tennessee, and the biographer of Gen. Jackson, (who boarded in 
the end of this city opposite to that in which Mr. Kremer took up his 
abode, a distance of about two miles and a half,) was closeted for some 
time with him. Mr. Kremer is entitled to great credit for having 
overcome all the disadvantages, incident to his early life and want of 
education, and forced his way to the honorable station of a member 
of the House of Representatives. Ardent in his attachment to the 
cause which he had espoused, Gen. Jackson is his idol, and of his 
blind zeal others have availed themselves, and have made him their 
dupe and their instrument. I do not pretend to know the object of 
Mr. Eaton's visit to him. I state the fact, as it was communicated 
to me, and leave you to judge. Mr. Kremer's card is composed with 
gome care and no little art, and he is made to avow in it, though 
somewhat equivocally, that he is the author of the letter to the Co- 
lumbian Observer. To Mr. Crown inshield, a member from Mas- 
sachusetts, formerly Secretary of the Navy, he declared that he was 
not the author of that letter. In his card he draws a clear line of 
separation between my friends and me, acquitting them, and under- 
taking to make good his* charges in that letter, only so far as I was 
concerned. The purpose of this discrimination is obvious. At that 
time the election was undecided, and it was therefore as important to 
abstain from imputations against my friends, as it was politic to fix 
them upon me. If they could be made to believe that I had been 
perfidious, in the transport of their indignation, they might have been 
carried to the support of Gen. Jackson. I received the National 
Intelligencer, containing Mr. Kremer's card, at breakfast, (the usual 
time of its distribution,) on the morning of its publication. As soon 
as I read the card, I took my resolution. The terms of it clearly im- 
plied that it had not entered into his conception to have a personal 
affair with me ; and I should have justly exposed myself to universal 



ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 199 

ridicule, if I had sought one with him. I determined to lay the mat- 
ter before the House, and respectfully to invite an investigation of my 
conduct. I accordingly made a communication to the House on the 
same day, the motives for which I assigned. Mr. Kremer was in his 
place, and, when I sat down, rose and stated that he was prepared 
and willing to substantiate his charges against me. This was his 
voluntary declaration, unprompted by his aiders and abettors, who 
had no opportunity of previous consultation with him on that point. 
Here was an issue publicly and solemnly joined, in which the accused 
invoked an inquiry into serious charges against him, and the accuser 
professed an ability and a willingness to establish them. A debate 
ensued on the next day which occupied the greater part of it, during 
which Mr. Kremer declared to Mr. Brent, of Louisiana, a friend of 
mine, and to Mr. Little of Maryland, a friend of Gen. Jackson, as they 
have certified, " that he never intended to charge Mr. Clay with cor- 
ruption or dishonor, in his intended vote for Mr. Adams, as President, 
or that he had transferred, or could transfer, the votes or interests of 
his friends; that he (Mr. Kremer) was among the last men in the 
nation to make such a charge against Mr. Clay ; and that his letter 
was never intended to convey the idea given to it. Mr. Digges, a 
highly respectable inhabitant of this city, has certified to the same 
declarations of Mr. Kremer. 

A message was also conveyed to me, during the discussion, through 
a member of the House, to ascertain if I would be satisfied with an 
explanation which was put on paper and shown me, and which it was 
stated Mr. Kremer was willing, in his place, to make. I replied that 
the matter was in the possession of the House. I was afterwards told, 
that Mr. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, got hold of that paper, put it in his 
pocket, and that he advised Mr. Kremer to take no step without the 
approbation of his friends. Mr. Cook, of Illinois, moved an adjourn- 
ment of the House, on information which he received of the proba- 
bility of Mr. Kremer's making a satisfactory atonement on the next 
day, for the injury which he had done me, which I have no doubt 
he would have made, if he had been left to the impulses of his native 
honesty. The House decided to refer my communication to a com- 
mittee, and adjourned until the next day to appoint it by ballot. In 
the mean time Mr. Kremer had taken, I psesume, or rather there had 
been forced upon him, the advice of his friends, and I heard no more 
ef the apology. A committee was appointed of seven gentlemen, of 



200 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAT. 

whom not one was my political friend, but who were among the most 
eminent members of the body. I received no summons or notifica- 
tion from the committee from its first organization to its final dissolu- 
tion, but Mr. Kremer was called upon by it to bring forward his 
proofs. For one moment be pleased to stop here and contemplate 
his posture, his relation to the House and to me, and the high obli- 
gations under which he had voluntarily placed himself. He was a 
member of one of the most ajigust assemblies upon earth, of which 
he was bound to defend the purity or expose the corruption by every 
consideration which ought to influence a patriot bosom. A most re- 
sponsible and highly important constitutional duty was to be perform- 
ed by that assembly. He had chosen, in an anonymous letter, to bring 
against its presiding officer charges, in respect to that duty, of the 
most flagitious character. These charges comprehended delegations 
from several highly respectable States. If true, that presiding officer 
merited not merely to be dragged from the chair, but to be expelled 
the House . He challenges an investigation into his conduct, and Mr . 
Kremer boldly accepts the challenge, and promises to sustain his ac- 
cusation. The committee appointed by the House itself, with the 
common consent of both parties, calls upon Mr. Kremer to execute 
his pledge publicly given, in his proper place, and also previously 
given in the public prints. Here is the theatre of the alleged ar- 
rangements ; this the vicinage in which the trial ought to take place. 
Every thing was here fresh in the recollection of the witnesses, if 
there were any. Here all the proofs were concentrated. Mr. Kremer 
was stimulated by every motive which could impel to action ; by his 
consistency of character ; by duty to his constituents — to his country; 
by that of redeeming his solemn pledge ; by his anxious wish for the 
success of his favorite, whose interests could not fail to be advanced 
by supporting his atrocious charges. But Mr. Kremer had now the 
benefit of the advice of his friends. He had no proofs, for the plainest 
of all reasons, because there was no truth in his charges. They saw 
that to attempt to establish them and to fail, as he must fail in the 
attempt, might lead to an exposure of the conspiracy, of which he was 
the organ. They advised, therefore, that he should make a retreat, 
and their adroitness suggested, that in an objection to that jurisdiction 
of the House, which had been admitted, and in the popular topics of 
the freedom of the press, his duty to his constituents, and the ine- 
quality in the condition of the Speaker of the House, and a member 
on the floor, plausible means might be found to deceive *Jb« i$aar*»t 



ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 201 

and conceal his disgrace. A labored communication was accordingly 
prepared by them, in Mr. Kremer's name, and transmitted to the com- 
mittee, founded upon these suggestions. Thus the valiant champion, 
who had boldly stepped forward, and promised, as a representative 
of the people, to " cry aloud and spare not," forgot all his gratuitous 
gallantry and boasted patriotism, and sunk at once into profound 
silence. 

With these remarks, I will for the present leave him, and proceed 
to assign the reasons to you, to whom alone I admit myself to be offi- 
cially responsible, for the vote which I gave on the Presidential elec- 
tion. The first inquiry which it behooved me to make was, as to the 
influence which ought to be exerted on my judgment, by the relative 
state of the electoral votes which the three returned candidates 
brought into the house from the colleges. General Jackson obtained 
ninety-nine, Mr. Adams eighty-four, and Mr. Crawford forty-one. 
Ought the fact of a plurality being given to one of the candidates to 
have any, and what, weight ? If the constitution had intended that 
it should have been decisive, the constitution would have made it de- 
cisive, and interdicted the exercise of any discretion on the part of 
the House of Representatives. The constitution has not so ordained, 
but, on the contrary, it has provided, that " from the persons having 
the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted 
for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose, immedi- 
ately, by ballot, a President." Thus a discretion is necessarily in- 
vested in the House — for choice implies examination, comparison, 
judgment. The fact, therefore, that one of the three persons was the 
highest returned, not being, by the constitution of the country, con- 
clusive upon the judgment of the House, it still remains to deter- 
mine what is the true degree of weight belonging to it ? It has been 
contended that it should operate, if not as an instruction, at least in 
the nature of one, and that in this form it should control the judg- 
ment of the House. But this is the same argument of conclusiveness 
which the constitution does not enjoin, thrown into a different, but 
more imposing shape. Let me analyze it. There are certain States, 
the aggregate of whose electoral votes conferred upon the highest re- 
turned candidate, indicate their wish that he should be the President. 
Their votes amount in number to ninety-nine, out of two hundred and 
sixty-one electoral votes of the whole Union. These ninety-nine do 
not, and cannot, of themselves, rpake the President. If the fact of 



202 SPEECHES OF HENRY CUT. 

particular States giving ninety-nine votes can, according to any re 
ceived notions of the doctrine of instruction, be regarded in that light, 
to whom are those instructions to be considered addressed ? Accord- 
ing to that doctrine, the people who appoint have the right to direct, 
by their instruction, in certain cases, the course of the representative 
whom they appoint. The States, therefore, who gave those ninety- 
nine votes, may in some sense be understood thereby to have instruct- 
ed their representatives in the House to vote for the person on whom 
they were bestowed, in the choice of a President. But most clearly 
the representatives coming from other States, which gave no part of 
those ninety-nine votes, cannot be considered as having been under 
any obligation to surrender their judgments to those of the States 
which gave the ninety-nine votes. To contend that they are under 
such an obligation, would be to maintain that the people of one 
State have a right to instruct the representatives from another State ] 
It would be to maintain a still more absurd proposition : that in a case 
where the representatives from a State did not hold themselves in- 
structed and bound by the will of that State, as indicated in its elec- 
toral college, the representatives from another State were, neverthe- 
less, instructed and bound by that alien will. Thus the entire vote 
of North Carolina, and a large majority of that of Maryland, in their 
respective electoral colleges, were given to one of the three returned 
candidates, for whom the delegation from neither of those States vo 
ted. And yet the argument combated requires that the delegation 
from Kentucky, who do not represent the people of North Carolina 
nor Maryland, should be instructed by, and give an effect to, the in- 
dicated will of the people of those two States, when their own dele- 
gation paid no attention to it. Doubtless, those delegations felt them- 
selves authorized to look into the actual composition of, and all other 
circumstances connected with, the majorities which gave the electo- 
ral votes, in their respective States ; and felt themselves justified, 
from a view of the whole ground, to act upon their responsibility and 
according to their best judgments, disregarding the electoral votes in 
their States. And are representatives from a different State not only 
bound by the will of the people of a different commonwealth, but for- 
bidden to examine into the manner by which the expression of that 
will was brought about — an examination which the immediate repre- 
sentatives themselves feel it their duty to make ? 

Ls the fact, then, of a plurality to have no weight ? Far from it. 



ADDBES3 TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 203 

Here are twenty-four communities united under a common govern- 
ment. The expression of the will of any one of them is entitled to 
the most respectful attention. It ought to be patiently heard and 
kindly regarded by the others ; but it cannot be admitted to be con- 
clusive upon them. The expression of the will of ninety-nine out of 
two hundred and sixty-one electors is entitled to very great attention, 
but that will cannot be considered as entitled to control the Avill of the 
one hundred and sixty-two electors who have manifested a different 
will. To give it such controlling influence would be a subversion of 
the fundamental maxim of the republic — that the majority should 
govern. The will of the ninety-nine can neither be allowed rightfully 
to control the remaining one hundred and sixty-two, nor any one of 
the one hundred and sixty-two electoral votes. It may be an argu- 
ment, a persuasion, addressed to all and to each of them, but it is 
binding and obligatory upon none. It follows, then, that the fact of 
a plurality was only one among the various considerations which the 
House was called upon to weigh, in making up its judgment. And 
the weight of the consideration ought to have been regulated by the 
extent of the plurality. As between General Jackson and Mr. Ad- 
ams, the vote standing in the proportions of ninety-nine to eighty- 
four, it was entitled to less weight ; as between the General and Mr. 
Crawford, it was entitled to more, the vote being as ninety-nine to 
forty-one. The concession may even be made that, upon the suppo- 
sition of an equality of pretensions between competing candidates, 
the preponderance ought to be given to the fact of a plurality. 

With these views of the relative state of the vote with which the 
three returned candidates entered the House, I proceeded to examine 
the other considerations which belonged to the question. For Mr 
Crawford, who barely entered the House, with only four votes more 
than one candidate not returned, and upon whose case, therefore, the 
argument derived from the fact of plurality operated with strong, 
though not decisive force, I have ever felt much personal regard. 
But I was called upon to perform a solemn public duty, in which my 
private feelings, whether of affection or aversion, were not to be in- 
dulged, but the good of my country only consulted. It appeared to 
me that the precarious state of that gentleman's health, although I 
participated with his best friends in all their regrets and sympathies 
on account of it, was conclusive against him, to say nothing of other 
considerations of a public nature, which would have deserved exam- 



204 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ination if, happily, in that respect he had been differently circumstan- 
ced. He had been ill near eighteen months ; and, although I am 
aware that his actual condition was a fact depending upon evidence, 
and that the evidence in regard to it, which had been presented to 
the public, was not perfectly harmonious, I judged for myself upon 
what I saw and heard. He may, and I ardently hope will, recover ; 
but I did not think it became me to assist in committing the executive 
administration of this great republic on the doubtful contingency of 
the restoration to health of a gentleman who had been so long and so 
seriously afflicted. Moreover, if, under all the circumstances of his 
situation, his election had been desirable, I did not think it practica- 
ble. I believed, and yet believe, that, if the votes of the western 
States, given to Mr. Adams, had been conferred on Mr. Crawford, 
the effect would have been to protract in the House the decision of 
the contest, to the great agitation and distraction of the country, and 
possibly to defeat an election altogether ; the very worst result, I 
thought, that could happen. It appeared to me, then, that, sooner 
o.r later, we must arrive at the only practical issue of the contest be- 
fore us, and that was between Mr. Adams and General Jackson, and 
I thought tli»t the earlier we got there, the better for the country, 
and for the House. 

In considering this only alternative, 1 was not unaware of your strong 
desire to have a western President ; but I thought that I knew enough 
of your patriotism and magnanimity, displayed on so many occasions, 
to believe that you could rise above the mere gratification of sectional 
pride, if the common good of the whole required you to make the 
sacrifice of local partiality. I solemnly believed it did, and this brings 
me to the most important consideration which belonged to the whole 
subject — that arising out of the respective fitness of the only two real 
competitors, as it appeared to my best judgment. In speaking of 
General Jackson, I am aware of the delicacy and respect which are 
justly due to that distinguished citizen. It is far from my purpose to 
attempt to disparage him. I could not do it if I were capable of 
making the attempt ; but I shall nevertheless speak of him as becomes 
me, with truth. I did not believe him so competent to discharge the 
various, intricate, and complex duties of the office of Chief Magistrate, 
as his competitor. He has displayed great skill and bravery as a 
military commander, and his own renown will endure as long as the 
means exist of preserving a recollection of human transactions. But 



ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 205 

to be qualified to discharge the duties of President of the United States, 
the incumbent must have more than mere military attainments — he 
must be a statesman. An individual may be a gallant and successful 
general, an eminent lawyer, an eloquent divine, a learned physician, 
or an accomplished artist ; and doubtless the union of all these cha- 
racters in the person of a Chief Magistrate would be desirable ; but 
no one of them, nor all combined, will qualify him to be President, 
unless he superadds that indispensable requisite of being a statesman. 
Far from meaning to say that it is an objection to the elevation to the 
Chief Magistracy of any person, that he is a military commander, if 
he unites the other qualifications, I only intend to say that, whatever 
may be the success or splendor of his military achievements, if his 
qualifications be only military, that is an objection, and I think a de- 
cisive objection, to his election. If General Jackson has exhibited, 
eithw in the councils of the Union, or in those of his own State, or in 
these of anyothei State or Territory, the qualities of a statesman, the 
e-idence of the fact has escaped my observation It would be as 
gainful as it is unnecessary to recapitulate some of the incidents, 
which must be fresh in your recollection, of his public life. But I was 
greatly deceived in my judgment if they proved him to be endowed 
with that prudence, temper, and discretion which are necessary for 
civil administration. It was in vain to remind me of the illustrious 
example of Washington. There was in that extraordinary person 
united, a serenity of mind, a cool and collected wisdom, a cautious and 
deliberate judgment, a perfect command of the passions, and, through- 
out his whole life, a familiarity and acquaintance with business, and 
civil transactions, which rarely characterize any human being. No 
man was ever more deeply penetrated than he was with profound re- 
spect for the safe and necessary principle of the entire subordination 
of the military to the civil authority. I hope I do no injustice to 
General Jackson when I say, that I could not recognise, in his public 
conduct, those attainments, for both civil government and military 
command, which contemporaries and posterity have alike unanimously 
concurred in awarding as yet only to the father of his country. I 
was sensible of the gratitude which the people of this country justly 
feel towards General Jackson for his brilliant military services. But 
the impulses of public gratitude should be controlled, as it appeared 
to me, by reason and discretion, and I was not prepared blindly to sur- 
render myself to the hazardous indulgence of a feeling, however ami- 
able and excellent that feeling may be when properly directed. It 

51 



206 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

did not seem to me to be wise or prudent, if, as 1 solemnly believe, 
General Jackson's competency for the office was highly questionable, 
that he should be placed in a situation where neither his hvme nor the 
public interests would be advanced. General Jackson himself would 
be the last man to recommend or vote for anyone for a place for 
which he thought him unfit. I felt myself sustained by his own rea- 
soning, in his letter to Mr. Monroe, in which, speaking of the quali- 
fications of our venerable Shelby for the Department of War, he re- 
marked : " I am compelled to say to you, that the acquirements of 
this worthy mart are not competent to the discharge of the multiplied 
duties of this department. I therefore hope he may not accept the 
appointment. 1 am fearful, if he does, he will not add much splendor 
to his present well-earned sianding as a public character." Such 
was my opinion of General Jackson, in reference to the Presidency. 
His conviction of Governor Shelby's unfitness, by the habits of his 
life, for the appointment of Secretary of War, were not more honest 
nor stronger than mine were of his own want of experience, and th* 
necessary civil qualifications to discharge the duties of a President of 
the United States. In his elevation to this office, too, I thought 1 per- 
ceived the establishment of a fearful precedent ; and I am mistaken in 
all the warnings of instructive history, if 1 erred in my judgment. 
Undoubtedly there are other and many dangers to public liberty, be- 
sides that which proceeds from military idolatry ; but I have yet to 
acquire the knowledge of it, if there be one more perilous, or more 
frequent. 

Whether Mr. Adams would or would not have been my choice of a 
President, if I had been left freely to select from the whole mass of 
America^ citizens, was not the question submitted to my decision. 
I had no such liberty; but I was circumscribed, in the selection I had 
to make, to one of the three gentlemen whom the people themselves 
had thought proper to present to the House of Representatives. What-/ 
ever objections might be supposed to exist against him, still greater 
appeared to me to apply to his competitor. Of Mr. Adams, it is 
but truth and justice to say, that he is highly gifted, profoundly learn- 
ed, and long and greatly experienced in public affairs, at home and 
abroad. Intimately conversant with the rise and progress of every 
negotiation with foreign powers, pending or concluded ; personally 
acquainted with the capacity and attainments of most of the public 
men of this country whom it might be proper to employ in the public 



ADDRB9S TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 207 

service ; extensively possessed of much of that valuable kind of in- 
formation which is to be acquired neither from books nor tradition, 
but which is the fruit of largely participating in public affairs ; dis- 
creet and sagacious ; he would enter upon the duties of the office 
witli great advantages. I saw in his election the establishment of 
no dangerous example. I saw in it, on the contrary, only conformity 
to the safe precedents which had been established in the instances of 
Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe, who had respectively 
filled the same office from which he was to be translated. 

A collateral consideration of much weight was derived from the 
wishes of the Ohio delegation. A majority of it, during the progress 
of the session, made up their opinions to support Mr. Adams, and 
they were communicated to me. They said, " Ohio supported the 
candidate who was the choice of Kentucky. We failed in our com- 
mon exertions to secure his election. Now, among those returned, 
we have a decided preference, and we think you ought to make some 
sacrifice to gratify us." Was not much due to our neighbor and 
friend ? 

I considered, with the greatest respect, the resolution of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Kentucky, requesting the delegation to vote for 
General Jackson. That resolution, it is true, placed us in a peculiar 
situation. Whilst every other delegation, from every other State in 
the Union, was left by its legislature entirely free to examine the 
pretensions of all the candidates, and to form its unbiased judgment, 
the General Assembly of Kentucky thought proper to interpose, and 
request the delegation to give its vote to one of the candidates, whom 
they were pleased to designate. I felt a sincere desire to comply 
with a request emanating from a source so respectaole, if I could 
have done so consistently with those paramount duties which I owed 
to you and to the country. But, after full and anxious consideration, 
I found it incompatible with my best judgment of those duties to con- 
form to the request of the General Assembly. The resolution asserts 
that it was the wish of the people of Kentucky that their delegation 
should vote for the General. It did not inform me by what means 
that body had arrived at a knowledge of the wish of the peopte. I 
knew that its members had repaired to Frankfort before I departed 
from home to come to Washington. I knew that their attention wai 
fixed on important local concerns, well entitled, by their magnitude. 



208 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

exclusively to engross it. No election, no general expression of the 
popular sentiment, had occurred since that in November, when elec- 
tors were chosen, and at that the people, by an overwhelming ma- 
jority, had decided against General Jackson. I could not see how 
such an expression against him, could be interpreted into that of a 
desire for his election. If, as is true, the candidate whom they pre- 
ferred was not returned to the House, it is equally true that the state 
of the contest, as it presented itstlf here to me, had never been con- 
sidered, discussed, and decided by the people of Kentucky, in their 
collective capacity. What would have been their decision on this 
new state of the question, I might have undertaken to conjecture, but 
the certainty of any conclusion of fact, as to their opinion, at which 
I could arrive, was by no means equal to that certainty of conviction 
of my duty to which I was carried by the exertion of my best and 
most deliberate reflections. The letters from home, which some of 
the delegation received, expressed the most opposite opinions, and 
there were not wanting instances of letters from some of the very 
members who had voted for that resolution, advising a different course. 
I received from a highly respectable portion of my constituents a 
paper, instructing me as follows : 

" We, the undersigned voters in the Congressional District, having viewed the 
instruction or request of the legislature of Kentucky, on the subject of choosing a 
President and Vice President of the United States, with regret, and the said request 
or instruction to our Representative in Congress from this district being without 
our knowledge or consent, we, for many reasons known to ourselves, connected 
with so momentous an occasion, hereby instruct our Representative in Congress to 
vote on this occasion agreeably to his own judgment, and the best lights he may 
have on the subject, with or without the consent of the legislature of Kentucky." 

This instruction came both unexpectedly and unsolicited by me, 
and it was accompanied by letters assuring me that it expressed the 
©pinion of a majority of my constituents. I could not, therefore, re- 
gard the resolution as conclusive evidence of your wishes. 

Viewed as a mere request, as it purported to be, the general as- 
sembly doubtless had the power to make it. But, then, with defer- 
ence, I think it was worthy of serious consideration whether the dig- 
nity of the general assembly ought not to have induced it to forbear 
addressing itself, not to another legislative body, but to a small part 
of it, ana requesting the members who composed that part, in a case 
which the constitution had confided to them, to vote according to the 
wishes of the general assembly, whether those wishes did or did not 



ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 209 

conform to their sense of duty. 1 could not regard the resolution as 
an instruction ; for, from the origin of our State, its legislature, has 
never assumed or exercised the right to instruct the representatives 
in Congress. I dia not recognise, the right, therefore, of the legisla- 
ture to instruct me. I recognised that right only when exerted by 
you. That the portion of the public servants who made up the gene- 
ral assembly have no right to instruct that portion of them who con- 
stituted the Kentucky delegation in the House of Representative*, is a 
proposition too clear to be argued. The members of the general as- 
sembly would have been the fust to behold as a presumptuous inter- 
position, any instruction, if the Kentucky delegation could have com 
mitted the absurdity to issue, from this place, any instruction to them 
to vote in a particular manner on any of the interesting subjects 
which lately engaged their attention at Frankfort. And although 
nothing is further from my intention than to impute either absurdity 
or presumption to the general assembly, in the adoption of the resolu- 
tion referred to, I must say, that the difference between an instruction 
emanating from them to the delegation, and from the delegation to 
them, is not in principle, but is to be found only in the degree of su- 
perior importance which belongs to the general assembly. 

Entertaining these views of the election on which it was made my 
duty to vote, I felt myself bound, in the exercise of my best judg- 
ment, to prefer Mr. Adams ; and I accordingly voted for him. I 
should have been highly gratified if it had not been my duty to vote 
on the occasion ; but that was not my situation, and I did not choose 
to shrink from any responsibility which appertained to your repre- 
sentative. Shortly after the election, it was rumored that Mr. Kre- 
mer was preparing a publication, and the preparations for it which 
were making excited much expectation. Accordingly, on the twenty- 
sixth of February, the address, under his name, to the " Electors of 
the ninth Congressional District of the State of Pennsylvania," made 
its appearance in the Washington City Gazette. No member of the 
House, I am persuaded, believed that Mr. Kremer ever wrote one 
paragraph of that address, or of the plea, which was presented to the 
committee, to the jurisdiction of the House. Those who counselled 
him, and composed both papers, and their purposes, were just as well 
known as the author of any report from a committee to the House. 
The first observation which is called for by the address is the place 
of its publication. That place was in this city, remote from the 



210 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

centre of Pennsylvania, near which Mr. Kremer's district is situated, 
and in a paper having but a very limited, if any circulation in it. 
The time is also- remarkable. The fact that the President intended 
to nominate me to the Senate for the office which I now hold, in the 
course of a few days, was then well known, and the publication of 
the address was, no doubt, made less with an intention to communi- 
cate information to the electors of the ninth Congressional District of 
Pennsylvania, than to afiect the decision of the Senate on the in- 
tended nomination. Of the character and contents of that address of 
Messrs. George Kremer & Co., made up, as it is, of assertion with- 
out proof, of inferences without premises, and of careless, jocose, and 
quizzing conversations of some of my friends, to which I was no 
party, and of which I had never heard, it is not my intention to say 
much. It carried its own refutation, and the parties concerned saw 
its abortive nature the next day, in the indignant countenance of every 
unprejudiced and honorable member. In his card, Mr. Kremer had 
been made to say, that he held himself ready " to prove, to the satis- 
faction of unprejudiced minds, enough to satisfy them of the accuracy 
of the statements which are contained in that letter, to the extent that 
they concerned the course of conduct of H. Clay." The object for 
excluding my friends from this pledge has been noticed. But now 
the election was decided, and there no longer existed a motive for 
discrimination between them and me. Hence the only statements 
that are made, in the address, having the semblance of proof, relate 
rather to them than to me ; and the design was, by establishing 
something like facts upon them, to make those facts re-act upon 
me. 

Of the few topics of the address upon which I shall remark, the 
first is, the accusation brought forward against me, of violating in- 
structions. If the accusation were true, who was the party offended, 
and to whom was I amenable ? If I violated any instructions, they 
must have been yours, since you only had the right to give them, 
and to you alone was I responsible. Without allowing hardly time 
for you to hear of my vote, without waiting to know what your judg- 
ment was of my conduct, George Kremer & Co. chose to arraign me 
before the American public as the violator of instructions which I 
was bound to obey. If, instead of being, as you are, and I hope al- 
ways will be, vigilant observers of the conduct cf your public agents, 
jealous of your rights, and competent to protect and j-fend them, 



ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 21] 

you had been ignorant and culpably confiding, the gratuitous interpo- 
sition, as your advocate, of the honorable George Kremer, of the 
ninth Congressional District in Pennsylvania, would have merited 
your most grateful acknowledgments. Even upon that supposition, 
his arraignment of me would have required for its support one small 
circumstaute, which happens not to exist, and that is, the fact of 
your having actually instructed me to vote according to his plea- 



The relations in which I stood to Mr. Adams constitute the next 
theme of the address, which I shall notice. I am described as hav- 
ing assumed " a position of peculiar and decided hostility to the, elec- 
tion of Mr. Adams," and expressions towards him are attributed to 
me, which I never used. I am made also responsible for " pamphlets 
and essays of great ability," published by my friends in Kentucky in 
the course of the canvass. The injustice of the principle of holding 
me thus answerable, may be tested by applying it to the case of Gen- 
eral Jackson, in reference to publications issued, for example, from the 
Columbia Observer. That I was not in favor of the election of Mr. 
Adams, when the. contest was before the people, is most certain. Nei- 
ther was I in favor of that of Mr. Crawford or Gen. Jackson. That I 
ever did anything against Mr. Adams, or either of the other gentle- 
men, inconsistent with a fair and honorable competition, I utterly 
deny. My relations to Mr. Adams have been the subject of much 
misconception, if not misrepresentation. 1 have been slated to he 
under a public pledge to expose some nefarious conduct of that gen- 
tleman, during the negotiation at Ghent, which would prove him to 
be entirely unworthy of public confidence ; and that with a knowl- 
edge of his perfidy, I nevertheless voted for him. If th < • imputa- 
tions are well founded, I should, indeed, he a fit object of public cen- 
sure ; but if, on the contrary, it shall be found that others, inimical 
both to him and to me, have substituted their own interested wishes 
for my public promises, I trust that the indignation, whi a Quid 

excite, will be turned from me. My letter, addressed to the editors 
<f the Intelligencer, under date of the fifteenth of Noi 
is made the occasion for ascribing to me the promise and the pledge 
io make those treasonable disclosures on Mr. Adams. Let that let- 
ter speak for itself, ami ii w\\\ be seen how little jusl • I . . is for 
such an assertion. It adverts to the controversy whi ' i arisen 
between Messrs. Adams and Russell, and then proceeds to state tin:;, 



212 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

" in the course of several publications, of which it has been the occa- 
sion, and particularly, in the appendix to a pamphlet which had 
been recently published by the Hon. John Quincy Adams, I think there 
are some errors, no doubt unintentional, both as to matters of fact and 
matters of opinion, in regard to the transactions at Ghent, relating to 
the navigation of the Mississippi, and certain liberties claimed by the 
United States in the fisheries, and to the part which I bore in those 
transactions. These important interests are now well secured." — 
" An account, therefore, of what occurred in the negotiation at Ghent, 
on those two subjects, is not, perhaps, necessary to the present or 
future security of any of the rights of the nation, and is only interest- 
ing as appertaining to its past history. With these impressions, and 
being extremely unwilling to present myself, at any time, before the 
public, I had almost resolved to remain silent, and thus expose my- 
self to the inference of an acquiescence in the correctness of all the 
statements made by both my colleagues ; but I have, on more reflection, 
thought it may be expected of me, and be considered as a duty on 
my part, to contribute all in my power towards a full and faithful 
understanding of the transactions referred to. Under this conviction, 
I will, at some future period, more propitious than the present to 
calm and dispassionate consideration, and when there can be no mis- 
interpretation of motives, lay before the public a narrative of those 
transactions, as I understood them." 

From even a careless perusal of that letter, it is apparent, that the 
only two subjects of the negotiations at Ghent, to which it refers, 
were the navigation of the Mississippi, and certain fishing liberties ; 
that the errors, which I had supposed were committed, applied to 
both Mr. Russell and Mr. Adams, though more particularly to the 
appendix of the latter ; that they were unintentional ; that they af- 
fected myself principally ; that I deemed them of no public import- 
ance, as connected with the then, or future security of any of the 
rights of the nation, but only interesting to its past history ; that I 
doubted the necessity of my offering to the public any account of 
those transactions ; and that the narrative which I promised was to 
be presented at a season of more calm, and when there could be no mis- 
interpretation of motives. Although Mr. Adams believes otherwise, I 
yet think there are some unintentional errors in the controversial pa- 
pers between him and Mr. Russell. But I have reserved to myself 
an exclusive right of judging when I shall execute the promise which 



ADDRK38 TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 21S 

1 have made, and I shall be neither quickened nor retarded in its per- 
formance by the friendly anxieties of any of my opponents. 

It injury accrue to any one by the delay in publishing the narra- 
tive, the public will not suffer by it. It is already known by the 
publication of the British and American projets, the protocols, and the 
correspondence between the respective plenipotentiaries, that the 
British government made at Ghent a demand of the navigation of 
the Mississippi, by an article in their projet nearly in the same words 
as those which were employed in the treaty of 1783 ; that a majority 
of the American commissioners was in favor of acceding to that de- 
mand, upon the condition that the British government would concede 
to us the same fishing liberties within their jurisdiction, as were se- 
cured to us by the same treaty of 1783 ; and that both demands were 
finally abandoned. The fact of these mutual propositions was com- 
municated by me to the American public in a speech which I deliver- 
ed in the House of Representatives, on the twenty-ninth day of Janu- 
ary, 1816. Mr. Hopkinson had arraigned the terms of thetreaty of 
peace, and charged upon the war and the administration the loss of 
the fishing liberties, within the British jurisdiction, which we enjoyed 
prior to the war. In vindicating, in my reply to him, the course of 
the government, and the conditions of the peace, I stated : — 

rt When the British commissioners demanded, in their projet, a renewal to Great 
Britain of the right to the navigation of the Mississippi, secured by the treaty of 
1783, a bare majority of the American commissioners offered to renew it, upon the 
condition that the liberties in question were renewed to us. I was not one of that 
majority. I will not trouble the committee with my reasons for being opposed 
to the offer. A majority of his colleagues, actuated, I believe, by the best mo- 
tives, made, however, the offer, and it was refused by the British commissioners." 

And what I thought of my colleagues of the majority, appears from 
the same extract. The spring after the termination of the negotia- 
tions at Ghent, I went to London, and entered upon a new and highly 
important negotiation with two of them, (Messrs. Adams and Galla- 
tin,) which resulted, on the third day of July, 1815, in the commer- 
cial convention, which has been since made the basis of most of our 
commercial arrangements with foreign powers. Now, if I had dis- 
covered at Ghent, as has been asserted, that either of them was false 
and faithless to his country, would I have voluntarily commenced 
with them another negotiation ? Further : there never has been a 
period, during our whole acquaintance, that Mr. Adams and I have 
not exchanged, when we have met, friendly salutations, and the 
courtesies and hospitalities of social intercourse. 

52 



214 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

The address proceeds to characterize the support which I gave to 
Mr. Adams as unnatural. The authors of the address have not stat- 
ed why it is unnatural, and we are therefore left to conjecture their 
meaning. Is it because Mr. Adams is from New England, and I am 
a citizen of the West ? If it be unnatural in the Western States to 
support a citizen of New England, it must be equally unnatural in the 
New England States to support a citizen of the West. And, on the 
same principle, the New England States ought to be restrained from 
concurring in the election of a citizen of the Southern States, or the 
Southern States from co-operating in the election of a citizen of New 
England. And, consequently, the support which the last three Presi- 
dents have derived from New England, and that which the Vice-Pre- 
sident recently received, has been most unnaturally given. The tend- 
ency of such reasoning would be to denationalize us, and to contract 
every part of the Union within the narrow, selfish limits of its own 
section. It would be still worse ; it would lead to the destruction of 
the Union itself. For if it be unnatural in one section to support a 
citizen in another, the Union itself must be unnatural ; all our ties, all 
our dories, all that is animating in the past, all that is bright and 
cheering in the future, must be unnatural. Happily, such is the ad- 
mirable texture of our Union, that the interests of all its parts are 
closely interwoven. If there are strong points of affinity between the 
South and the West, there are interests of not less, if not greater, 
strength and vigor, binding the West, and the North, and the East. 

Before I close this address, it is my duty, which I proceed to per- 
form with great regret, on account of the occasion which calls for it, 
to invite your attention to a letter, addressed by General Jackson to 
Mr. Swartwout, on the twenty-third day of February last. The names 
of both the General and myself had been before the American public 
for its highest office. We had both been unsuccessful. The unfortu- 
nate have usually some sympathy for each other. Formyself, I claim 
no merit for the cheerful acquiescence which I have given in a result 
by which I was excluded from the House. I have believed that the 
decision by the constituted authorities, in favor of others, has been 
founded upon a conviction of the superiority of their pretensions. 
It has been my habit, when an election is once decided, to forget, as 
soon as possible, all the irritating circumstances which attended the 
preceding canvass. If one be successful, he should be content with 
his success. If he have lost it, railing will do no good. I never 



ADDRESS TO HJ6 CONSTITUENTS. 215 

gave General Jackson nor his friends any reason to believe that I 
would, in any contingency, support him. He had, as I thought, no 
public claim, and, I will now add, no personal claims, if these ought 
to be ever considered, to my support. No one, therefore, ought to 
have been disappointed or chagrined that I did not vote for him, no 
more than I was neither surprised nor disappointed that he did not, on 
a more recent occasion, feel it to be his duty to vote for me. After 
commenting upon a particular phrase used in my letter to Judge 
Brooke, a calm reconsideration of which will, I think, satisfy any per- 
son that it was not employed in an offensive sense, if indeed it have 
an offensive sense, the General, in his letter to Mr. Swartwout, pro- 
ceeds to remark : " No one beheld me seeking,'through art or man- 
agement, to entice any Representative in Congress from a conscien- 
tious responsibility of his own, or the wishes of his constituents. No 
midnight taper burnt by me ; no secret conclaves were held, nor ca- 
bals entered into to persuade any one to a violation of pledges given, or 
of instructions received. By me no plans were concerted to impair 
the pure principles of our republican institutions, nor to prostrate that 
fundamental maxim which maintains the supremacy of the people's 
will. On the contrary, having never in any manner, before the peo- 
ple or Congress, interfered in the slightest degree with the question, 
my conscience stands void of offence, and will go quietly with me, 
regardless of the insinuations of those who, through management, 
may seek an influence not sanctioned by integrity and merit." I am 
not aware that this defence of himself was rendered necessary by any 
charges brought forward against the General. Certainly I never 
made any such charges against him. I will not suppose that, in the 
passage cited, he intended to impute to me the misconduct which he 
describes, and yet, taking the whole context of his letter together, and 
coupling it with Mr. Kremer's address, it cannot be disguised that 
others may suppose he intended to refer to me. I am quite sure that, 
jf he did, he could not have formed those unfavorable opinions of me 
upon any personal observation of my conduct made by himself ; for a 
supposition that they were founded upon his own knowledge, would 
imply that my lodgings and my person had been subjected to a sys- 
tem of espionage wholly incompatible with the open, manly, and hon- 
orable conduct of a gallant soldier. If he designed any insinuations 
against me, I must believe that he made them upon the information 
of others, of whom I can only say that they have deceived his credu- 
lity, and are entirely unworthy cf all credit. I entered into no cabals j 



216 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

I held no secret conclaves ; I enticed no man to violate pledges given 
or instructions received. The members from Ohio, and from the 
other western States, with whom I voted, were all of them as com- 
petent as I was to form an opinion on the pending election. The 
McArthurs and the Metcalfs, and the other gentlemen from the West, 
(some of whom have, if I have not, bravely " made an effort to repel 
an invading foe,") are as incapable of dishonor as any men breathing ; 
as disinterested, as unambitious, as exclusively devoted to the best 
interests of their country. It was quite as likely that I should be 
influenced by them, as that I could control their votes. Our object 
was not to impair, but to preserve from all danger, the purity of our 
republican institutions. And how I prostrated the maxim which 
maintains the supremacy of the people's will, I am entirely at 
a loss to comprehend. The illusions of the General's imagination 
deceive him. The people of the United States had never decided the 
election in his favor. If the people had willed his election, he would 
have been elected. It was because they had not willed his election, 
nor that of any other candidate, that the duty of making a choice de- 
volved on the House of Representatives. The General remarks : 

" Mr Clay has never yet risked himself lor his country. He has never sacrificed 
his repose, nor made an effort to repel an invading foe ; of cmirse his conscience as- 
sured him it was altogether wrong in any other man to lead his countrymen to battle 
and victory." 

The logic of this conclusion is not very striking. General Jackson 
fights better than he reasons. When have I failed to concur in award- 
ing appropriate honors to those who, on the sea or on the land, have 
sustained the glory of our arms, if I could not always approve of the 
acts of some of them ? It is true, that it has been my misfortune 
never to have repelled an invading foe, nor to have led my country- 
men to victory. If I had, I should have left to others to proclaim 
and appreciate the deed. The General's destiny and mine have led 
us in different directions. In the civil employments of my country, 
to which I have been confined, I regret that the little service which 
I have been able to render it falls far short of my wishes. But why 
this denunciation of those who have not repelled an invading foe, or 
led our armies to victory ? At the very moment when he is inveigh- 
ing against an objection to his election to the Presidency, founded 
upon the exclusive military nature of his merits, does he not perceive 
that he is establishing its validity by proscribing every man who has 



ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 217 

not successfully fought the public enemy ; and that, by such a 
general proscription, and the requirement of successful military ser 
rice as the only condition of civil preferment, the inevitable effect 
would be the ultimate establishment of a military government ? 

If the contents of the letter to Mr. Swartwout were such as justly 
to excite surprise, there were other circumstances not calculated to 
diminish it. Of all the citizens of the United States, that gentleman 
is one of the last to whom it was necessary to address any vindica- 
tion of General Jackson. He had given abundant evidence of his 
entire devotion to the cause of the General. He was here after the 
election, and was one of a committee who invited the General to a 
public dinner, proposed to be given to him in this place. My letter 
to Judge Brooke was published in the papers of this city on the 
twelfth of February. The General's note, declining the invitation 
of Messrs. Swartwout and others, was published on the fourteenth, 
in the National Journal. The probability therefore is, that he did 
not leave this city until after he had a full opportunity to receive, in 
a personal interview with the General, any verbal observations upon 
it which he might have thought proper to make. The letter to Mr. 
Swartwout bears date the twenty-third of February. If received by 
him in New York, it must have reached him, in the ordinary course 
of mail, on the twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth. Whether intended or 
not as a " private communication," and not for the " public eye," as 
alleged by him, there is much probability in believing that its publi- 
cation in New York, on the fourth of March, was then made, like 
Mr. Kremer's address, with the view to its arrival in this city in 
time to affect my nomination to the Senate. In point of fact, it 
reached here the day before the Senate acted on that nomination. 

Fellow-citizens, I am sensible that, generally, a public officer had 
better abstain from any vindication of his conduct, and leave it to the ■ 
candor and justice of his countrymen, under all its attending circum- 
stances. Such has been the course which I have heretofore prescribed 
to myself. This is the first, as I hope it may be the last, occasion of 
my thus appearing before you. The separation which has just taken 
place between us, and the venom, if not the vigor, of the late onsets 
upon my public conduct, will, I hope, be allowed in this instance to 
form an adequate apology. It has been upwards of twenty years 
since I first entered the public service. Nearly three-fourths of that 



218 SPEECHES OF HENRr CLAY. 

time, with some intermissions, I have represented the same district 
in Congress, with but little variation in its form. During that long 
period, you have beheld our country passing through scenes of peace 
and war, of prosperity and adversity, and of party divisions, local and 
o-eneral, often greatly exasperated against each other. I have been 
an actor in most of those scenes. Throughout the whole of them 
you have clung to me with an affectionate confidence which has 
never been surpassed. I have found in your attachment, in every 
embarrassment in my public career, the greatest consolation, and the 
most encouraging support. I should regard the loss of it as one of 
the most afflicting public misfortunes which could befall me. That 
I have often misconceived your true interests, is highly probable. 
That I have ever sacrificed them to the object of personal aggrandize- 
ment, I utterly deny. And, for the purity of my motives, however 
in other respects I may be uuworthy to approach the Throne of Grace 
and Mercy, I appeal to the justice of my God, with all the confidence 
which can flow from a consciousness of perfect rectitude. 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 
In the House of Representatives, March 30 and 31, li24 



[The bill imposing further duties on Imports in aid of the great Producing Inter- 
ests of the country, (which became a law, and is now known a.? the TarifFbf 1824,) 
being under consideration in the House, sitting as a Committee of the Whole, and 
Mr. P. P. Bakboto, of Virginia, having spoken at length in opposition to its pas- 
sage, Mr. CtAV took the rloor in reply, and spoke as follows:] 

The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Barbour) has embraced the 
occasion produced by the proposition of the gentleman from Tennes- 
see, to strike out the minimum price in the bill on cotton fabrics, to 
express his sentiments at large on the policy of the pending measure ; 
and it is scarcely necessary for me to say. that he has evinced his usual 
good temper, ability, and decorum. The parts of the bill are so in- 
terming! d and interwoven together, that there can be no doubt of 
the fitness of this occasion to exhibit its merits or its defects. It is 
my intention, with the permission of the committee, to avail myself 
also of this opportunity, to present to its consideration those general 
views, as they appear to me, of the true policy of this country, which 
imperiously demand the passage of tin's bill. I an deeply sensible, 
Mr. Chairman, of the high responsibility of my present situation. 
But that responsibility inspires me with no other apprehension than 
that I shall be unable to fulfil my duty ; with no other solicitude than 
that I may, at least, in some small degree, contribute to recall my 
country from the pursuit of a fatal policy, which appears to me in- 
evitably to lead to its impoverishment and ruin. 1 do feel most aw- 
fully this responsibility. And, if it were allowable for us, at the 
present day, to imitate ancient examples, I would invoke the aid ot 
the Mc*t Hie;-: I would anxiously and fervently implore His Di- 



220 



SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 



vine assistance ; that He would be graciously pleased to shower on 
my country His richest blessings ; and that He would sustain, on this 
interesting occasion, the humble individual who stands before Him, 
and lend him the power, moral and physical, to perform the solemn 
duties which now belong to his public station. 

Two classes of politicians divide the people of the United States. 
According to the system of one, the produce of foreign industry should 
be subjected to no other impost than such as may be necessary to pro- 
vide a public revenue ; and the produce of American industry should 
be left to sustain itself, if it can, with no other than that incidental pro- 
tection, in its competition, at home as well as abroad, with rival for- 
eign articles. According to the system of the other class, whilst they 
agree that the imposts should be mainly, and may, under any modifi- 
cation, be safely relied on as a fit and convenient source of public 
revenue, they would so adjust and arrange the duties on foreign fab- 
rics as to afford a gradual but adequate protection to American indus- 
try, and lessen our dependance on foreign nations, by securing a cer- 
tain and ultimately a cheaper and better supply of our own wants 
from our own abundant resources. Both classes are equally sincere 
in their respective opinions, equally honest, equally patriotic, and 
desirous of advancing the prosperity of the country. In the discus- 
sion and consideration of these opposite opinions, for the purpose of 
ascertaining which has the support of truth and reason, we should, 
therefore, exercise every indulgence, and the greatest spirit of mutual 
moderation and forbearance. And, in our deliberations on this great 
question, we should look fearlessly and truly at the actual condition 
of the country, retiace the causes which have brought us into it, and 
snatch, if possible, a view of the future. We should, above all, con- 
sult experience — trie experience of other nations, as well as our own, 
as our truest and nost unerring guide. 



In casting our eyes around us, the most prominent circumstance 
which fixes our atention, and challenges our deepest regret, is the 
o-eneral distress which pervades the whole country. It is forced upon 
us by numerous ftcts of the most incontestable character. It is indi- 
cated by the diminished exports of native produce ; by the depressed 
and reduced state of our foreign navigation ; by our diminished com- 
merce : by successive unthrashed crops of grain, perishing in our 
barns and barn-ya^ds for the want of a market ; by the alarming dimi- 



OK AM ERICA r» WDUSTRT. 2tl 

nution of the circulating medium ; by the numerous bankruptcies, not 
limited to the trading classes, but extending to all orders of society j 
by a universal complaint of the want of employment, and a conse- 
quent reduction of the wages of labor ; by the ravenous pursuit after 
public situations, not for the sake of their honors and the performance 
of their public duties, but as a means of private subsistence ; by the 
reluctant resort to the perilous use of paper money ; by the interven- 
tion of legislation in the delicate relation between debtor and creditor ; 
and, above all, by the low and depressed state of the value of almost 
every description of the whole mass of the property of the nation, 
which has, on an average, sunk not less than about fifty per centum 
within a few years. This distress pervades every part of the Union, 
every class of society ; all feel it, though it may be felt, at different 
-places, in different degrees. It is like the atmosphere which sur- 
rounds us — all must inhale it, and none can escape it. In some pla- 
ces it has burst upon our people, without a single mitigating circum- 
stance to temper its severity. In others, more fortunate, slight alle- 
viations have been experienced in the expenditure of the public reve- 
nue, and in other favoring causes. A few years ago, the planting 
interest consoled itself with its happy exemptions ; but it has now 
reached this interest also, which experiences, though with less se- 
verity, the general suffering. It is most painful to me to attempt to 
sketch or to dwell on the gloom of this picture. But I have exag- 
gerated nothing. Perfect fidelity to the original would have author- 
ized me to have thrown on deeper and darker hues. And it is the 
duty of the statesman, no less than that of the physician, to survey, 
with a penetrating, steady, and undismayed eye, the actual condition 
of the subject on which he would operate ; to probe to the bottom 
the diseases of the body politic, if he would apply efficacious reme- 
dies. We have not, thank God, suffered in any great degree for food. 
But distress, resulting from the absence of a supply of the mere physi- 
cal wants of our nature, is not the only, nor, perhaps, the keenest 
distress, to which we may be exposed. Moral and pecuniary suffer- 
ing is, if possible, more poignant. It plunges its victim into hope- 
less despair. It poisons, it paralyzes, the spring and source of all 
useful exertion. Its unsparing action is collateral as well as direct. 
It falls with inexorable force at the same time upon the wretched 
family of embarrassment and insolvency, and upon its head. They 
are a faithful mirror, reflecting back upon him, at once, his own 
frightful image, and that, no less appalling, of the dearest objects of 

53 



322 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

his affection. What is the cause of this wide-spreading distress, of 
this deep depression which we behold stamped on the public counte- 
nance ? We are the same people. We have the same country. We 
cannot arraign the bounty of Providence. The showers still fall in the 
same grateful abundance. The sun still casts his genial and vivifying 
influence upon the land ; and the land, fertile and diversified in its soil 
as ever, yields to the industrious cultivator, in boundless profusion, 
its accustomed fruits, its richest treasures. Our vigor is unimpaired. 
Our industry is not relaxed. If ever the accusation of wasteful ex- 
travagance could be made against our people, it cannot now be justly 
preferred. They, on the contrary, for the few last years, at least, 
have been practising the most rigid economy. The causes, then, of 
our present affliction, whatever they may be, are human causes, and 
human causes not chargeable upon the people in their private and in- 
dividual relations. 

What, again I would ask, is the cause of the unhappy condition of 
our country, which I have faintly depicted ? It is to be found in the 
fact that, during almost the whole existence of this government, we 
have shaped our industry, our navigation, and our commerce, in reftr- 
ence to an extraordinary war in Europe, and to foreign markets, 
which no longer exist ; in the fact that we have depended too much 
upon foreign sources of supply, and excited too little the native; in 
the fact that, whilst we have cultivated, with assiduous care, our 
foreign resources, we have suffered those at home to wither, in a state 
of neglect and abandonment. The consequence of the termination of 
the war of Europe, has been the resumption of European commerce, 
European navigation, and the extension of European agriculture and 
European industry, in all its branches. Europe, therefore, has no- 
longer occasion, to any thing like the same extent, as that she had 
during her wars, for American commerce, American navigation, the 
produce of American industry. Europe, in commotion and convulsed 
throughout all hex members, is to America no longer the same Europe 
as she is now, tranquil, and watching with the most vigilant attention 
all her own peculiar interests, without regard to the operation of her 
policy upon us. The effect of this altered state of Europe upon us, 
has been to circumscribe the employment of our marine, and greatly 
to reduce the value of the produce of our territorial labor. The 
further effect of this twofold reduction has been to decrease the value 
of all property, whether on the land or on the oceavi, and which I 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 230 

suppose to be about fifty per centum. And the still further effect has 
been to diminish the amount of our circulating medium, in a propor- 
tion not less, by its transmission abroad, or its withdrawal by the 
banking institutions, from a necessity which they could not control. 
The quantity of money, in whatever form it may be, which a nation 
wants, is in proportion to the total mass of its wealth, and to the ac- 
tivity of that wealth. A nation that has but little wealth, has but a 
limited want of money. In stating the fact, therefore, that the total 
wealth of the country has diminished within a few years, in a ratio 
of about fifty per centum, we shall, at once, fully comprehend the in- 
evitable reduction, which must have ensued, in the total quantity of 
the circulating medium of the country. A nation is most prosperous 
when there is a gradual and untempting addition to the aggregate of 
its circulating medium. It is in a condition the most adverse, when 
there is a rapid diminution in the quantity of the circulating medium, 
and a consequent depression in the value of property. In the former 
case, the wealth of individuals insensibly increasee, and income keeps 
ahead of expenditure. But, in the latter instance, debts have been 
contracted, engagements made, and habits of expense established, in 
reference to the existing state of wealth and of its representative. 
When these come to be greatly reduced, individuals find their debt6 
still existing, their engagements unexecuted, and their habits inveter- 
ate. They see themselves in the possession of the same property, on 
which, in good faith, they had bound themselves. — But that property / 
without their fault, possesses no longer the same value ; and hence 
discontent, impoverishment, and ruin arise. Let us suppose, Mr- 
Chairman, that Europe was again the theatre of such a general war 
as recently raged throughout all her dominions — such a state of the 
war as existed in her greatest exertions and in our greatest pros- 
perity : instantly there would arise a greedy demand for the surplus 
produce of our industry, for our commerce, for our navigation. The 
languor which now prevails in our cities, and in our sea-ports, would 
give way to an animated activity. Our roads and rivers would be 
crowded with the produce of the interior. Everywhere we should 
witness excited industry. The precious metals would reflow from 
abroad upon us. Banks, which have maintained their credit, would 
revive their business ; and new banks would be established, to take 
the place of those which have sunk beneath the general pressure. 
For it is a mistake to suppose that they have produced our present 
adversity ; they may have somewhat aggravated it, but they were the 



224 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

effect and the evidence of our prosperity. Prices would again get 
up ; the former value of property would be restored. And those 
embarrassed persons who have not been already overwhelmed by the 
times, would suddenly find, in the augmented value of their property, 
and the renewal of their business, ample means to extricate them- 
selves from all their difficulties. The greatest want of civilized so- 
ciety is a market for the sale and exchange of the surplus of the pro- 
duce of the labor of its members. This market may exist at home 
or abroad, or both ; but it must exist somewhere, if society prospers ; 
and wherever it does exist, it should be competent to the absorption 
of the entire surplus of production. It is most desirable that there 
should be both a home and a foreign market. But, with respect to 
their relative superiority, I cannot entertain a doubt. The home 
market is first in order, and paramount in importance. The object 
of the bill, under consideration, is to create this home market, and to 
lay the foundations of a genuine American policy. It is opposed, and 
it is incumbent upon the partisans of the foreign policy (terms which 
I shall use without any invidious intent) to demonstrate that the 
foreign market is an adequate vent for the surplus produce of our 
labor. But is it so ? 1. Foreign nations cannot, if they would, take 
our surplus produce. If the source of supply, no matter of what, in- 
creases in a greater ratio than the demand for that supply, a glut of 
the market is inevitable, even if we suppose both to remain perfectly 
unobstructed. The duplication of our population takes place in terms 
of about twenty-five years. The term will be more and more ex- 
tended as our numbers multiply. But it will be a sufficient approxi- 
mation to assume this ratio for the present. We increase, therefore, 
in population, at the rate of about four per centum per annum. Sup- 
posing the increase of our production to be in the same ratio, we 
should, every succeeding year, have of surplus produce, four per 
centum more than that of the preceding year, without taking into the 
account the differences of seasons which neutralize each other. If, 
therefore, we are to rely upon the foreign market exclusively, foreign 
consumption ought to be shown to be increasing in the same ratio of 
four per centum per annum, if it be an adequate vent for our surplus 
produce. But, as I have supposed the measure of our increasing 
production to be furnished by that of our increasing population, so the 
measure of tfoeir power of consumption must be determined by that 
of the increase of their population. Now, the total foreign population, 
who consume our surplus produce, upon an average, do not double 



Olf AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 



225 



their aggregate number in a shorter term than that of about one hun- 
dred years. Our powers of production increase then in a ratio four 
times greater than their powers of consumption. And hence their 
utter inability to receive from us our surplus produce. 

But, secondly. If they could, they will not. The policy of all 
Europe is adverse to the reception of our agricultural produce, so far 
as it comes into collision with' its own ; and under that limitation 
We are absolutely forbid to enter their ports, except under circum- 
stances which deprive them of all value as a steady market. The 
policy of all Europe rejects those great staples of our country, which 
consist of objects of human subsistence. The policy of all Europe 
refuses to receive from us any thing but those raw materials of small- 
er value, essential to their manufactures, to which they can give a 
higher value, with the exception of tobacco and rice, which they can- 
not produce. Even Great Britain, to which we are its best customer, 
and from which we receive nearly one half in value of our whole im- 
ports, will not take from us articles of subsistence produced in our coun- 
try cheaper than can be produced in Great Britain. In adopting this 
exclusive policy, the states of Europe do not inquire what is best for us, 
but what suits themselves respectively ; they do not take jurisdiction of 
the question of our interests, but limit the object of their legislation to 
that of the conservation of their own peculiar interests, leaving us 
free to prosecute ours as we please. They do not guide themselves 
by that romantic philanthropy which we see displayed here, and 
which invokes us to continue to purchase the produce of foreign in- 
dustry, without regard to the state or prosperity of our own, that 
foreigners may be pleased to purchase the few remaining articles of 
ours, which their restricted policy has not yet absolutely excluded 
from their consumption. What sort of a figure would a member of 
the British parliament have made — what sort of a reception would 
his opposition have obtained, if he had remonstrated against the pas- 
sage of the corn law, by which British consumption is limited to the 
bread-stuffs of British production, to the entire exclusion of Ameri- 
can, and stated that America could not and would not buy British 
manufactures, if Britain did not buy American flour ? 

Both the inability and the policy of foreign powers, then, forbid us 
to rely upon the foreign market as being an adequate vent for the 
surplus produce of American labor. Now, let us see if this general 



236 SPEECHES OF HENRI CWAV. 

reasoning is not fortified and confirmed by the actual experience of 
this country. If the foreign market may be safely relied upon, as 
furnishing an adequate demand for our surplus produce, then the offi- 
cial documents will show a progressive increase, from year to year, 
in the exports of our native produce, in a proportion equal to that 
which I have suggested. If, on the contrary, we shall find from them 
that, for a long term of past years, some of our most valuable staples 
have retrograded, some remained stationary, and others advanced but 
little, if any, in amount, with the exception of cotton, the deductions 
of reason and the lessons of experience will alike command us to 
withdraw our confidence in the competency of the foreign market. 
The total amount of all our exports of domestic produce for the yeai 
beginning in 1795, and ending on the thirtieth September, 1796, was 
forty millions seven hundred and sixty-four thousand and ninety -seven. 
Estimating the increase according to the ratio of the increase of our 
population, that is, at four per centum per annum, the amount of the 
exports of the same produce, in the year ending on the thirtieth Sep- 
tember last, ought to have been eighty-five millions four hundred and 
twenty thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. It was in fact only 
forty-seven millions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred 
and eight. Taking the average of five years, from 1803 to 1807, in- 
clusive, the amount of native produce exported was forty-three mill- 
ions two hundred and two thousand seven hundred and fifty-one for 
each of those years. Estimating what it ought to have been, during 
the last year, applying the principle suggested to that amount, there 
should have been exported seventy -seven millions seven hundred and 
sixty-six thousand seven hundred and fifty-one, instead of forty seven 
millions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four hundred and eight. 
If these comparative amounts of the aggregate actual exports, and 
what they ought to have been, be discouraging, we shall find, on de- 
scending into particulars, still less cause of satisfaction. The export 
of tobacco in 1791, was one hundred and twelve thousand four hun- 
dred and twenty-eight hogsheads. That was the year of the largest 
exportation of that article ; but it is the only instance in which I have 
selected the maximum of exportation. The amount of what we 
ought to have exported last year, estimated according to the scale ot 
increase which I have used, is two hundred and sixty -six thousand 
three hundred and thirty-two hogsheads. The actual export was 
nenety-nine thousand and nine hogsheads. We exported in 1803, 
the quantity of one million three hundred and eleven thousand eight 



OW AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 227 

hundred and fifty three barrels of flour ; and ought to have exported 
last year two millions three hundred and sixty-one thousand three 
hundred and thirty-three barrels. We, in fact, exported only seven 
hundred and fifty-six thousand seven hundred and two barrels. Of 
that quantity we sent to South America one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand barrels, according to a statement furnished me by the diligence 
of a friend near me, (Mr. Poinsett,) to whose valuable mass of accu- 
rate information, in regard to that interesting quarter of the world, I 
have had occasion frequently to apply. But that demand is tempo- 
rary, growing out of the existing state of war. Whenever peace is 
restored to it, and I now hope that the day is not distant when its in- 
dependence will be generally acknowledged, there cannot be a doubt 
that it will supply its own consumption. In all parts of it the soil, 
either from climate or from elevation, is well adapted to the culture 
of wheat ; and nowhere can better wheat be produced than in some 
portions of Mexico and Chili. Still the market of South America is 
one Avhich, on other accounts, deserves the greatest consideration. 
And I congratulate you, the committee, and the country, on the re- 
cent adoption of a more auspicious policy towards it. 

We exported in 1803, Indian corn to the amount of two millions 
seventy-four thousand six hundred and eight bushels. The quantity 
should have been, in 1823, three millions seven hundred and thirty- 
four thousand two hundred and eighty-eight bushels. The actual 
quantity exported, was seven hundred and forty-nine thousand and 
thirty-four bushels, or about one-fifth of what it should have been, 
and a little more than one-third of what it was more than twenty years 
ago. We ought not then to be surprised at the extreme depression 
of the price of that article, of which I have heard my honorable friend 
(Mr. Bassett) complain, nor of the distress of the corn-growing dis- 
tricts adjacent to the Chesapeake bay. We exported seventy-seven 
thousand nine hundred and thirty-four barrels of beef in 1803, and 
last year but sixty-one thousand four hundred and eighteen, instead 
of one hundred and forty thousand two hundred and seventy-four bar- 
rels. In the same year (1803) we exported ninety-six thou^m^ s >x 
hundred and two barrels of pork, and last year fiftv Hv^^ousam] five 
hundred and twenty-nine, instead of one hu- Ye ' Jaml s ^enty-three 
thousand eight hundred and eighty-tw- " arrels Rwe has »<* ad- 
vanced by any means in the pron- ^ which U 0U S ht to "-™ done. 
All the small articles, such - ""** b * tter ' candles » ^> lo ° ***** 



228 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

to detail, but important in their aggregate, have also materially dimin- 
ished. Cotton alone has advanced. But, while the quantity of it is 
augmented, its actual value is considerably diminished. The total 
quantity last year exceeded that of the preceding year by nearly 
thirty millions of pounds. And yet the total value of the year of 
smaller exportation exceeded that of the last year by upwards of 
three and a half millions of dollars. If this article, the capacity of 
our country to produce which was scarcely known in 1790, were 
subtracted from the mass of our exports, the value of 'the residue 
would only be a little upwards of twenty-seven millions during the 
last year. The distribution of the articles of our exports throughout 
the United States, cannot fail to fix the attention of the committee. 
Of the forty-seven millions one hundred and fifty-five thousand four 
hundred and eight, to which they amounted last year, three articles 
alone (cotton, rice, and tobacco) composed together twenty-eight 
millions five hundred and forty-nine thousand one hundred and sev- 
enty-seven. Now these articles are chiefly produced to the south. 
And if we estimate that portion of our population who are actually 
engaged in their culture, it would probably not exceed two millions. 
Thus, then, less than one-fifth of the whole population of the United 
States produced upwards of one-half, nearly two-thirds, of the entire 
value of the exports of the last year. 

Is this foreign market, so incompetent at present, and which, limit- 
ed as its demands are, operates so unequally upon the productive la- 
bor of our country, likely to improve in future ? If I am correct in 
the views which I have presented to the committee, it must become 
worse and worse. What can improve it ? Europe will not abandon 
her own agriculture to foster ours. We may even anticipate that she 
will more and more enter into competition with us in the supply of 
the West India market. That of South America, for articles of sub- 
sistence, will probably soon vanish. The value of our exports, for the 
future, may remain at about what it was last year. But if we do not 
ci«^te some new market — if we persevere in the existing pursuits of 
jj agricuhxviv the inevitable consequence must be, to augment greatly 
the quantity or our reduce, and to lessen its value in the foreign 
market. Can there be a . ^ oq ^ point ? Take the arlide ^ 
cotton, for example, which is a,. ^ ^ on]y ^.^ ^ nQw femu _ 
nerates labor and capital. A certain u. , 5 tion of i abo r is powerfttlly 
attracted towards the cotton-growing coif.. ^ ^ cultivfttion wUl 



ON AMERICAN INDU8TRT. 229 

be greatly extended, the aggregate amount annually produced will be 
vastly augmented. The price will fall. The more unfavorable soils 
will then be gradually abandoned. And I have no doubt that in a few 
years it will cease to be profitably produced anywhere north of the 
thirty-fourth degree of latitude. But in the mean time large numbers 
of cotton-growers will suffer the greatest distress. And while this 
distress is brought upon our own country, foreign industry will be 
stimulated by the very cause which occasions our distress. For, by 
surcharging the markets abroad, the price of the raw material being 
reduced, the manufacturer will be able to supply cotton fabrics cheap- 
er, and the consumption in his own country and in foreign nations, 
other than ours, (where the value of the import must be limited to 
the value of the export, which I have supposed to remain the same,) 
being proportionally extended, there will be, consequently, an increas- 
ed demand for his industry. 

Our agricultural is our greatest interest. It ought ever to be pre- 
dominant. All others should bend to it. And, in considering what 
is for its advantage, we should contemplate it in all its varieties, of 
planting, farming, and grazing. Can we do nothing to invigorate it ; 
nothing to correct the errors of the past, and to brighten the still more 
unpromising prospects which lie before us ? We have seen, I think, 
the causes of the distresses of the country. We have seen, that an 
exclusive dependance upon the foreign market must lead to still se- 
verer distress, to impoverishment, to ruin. We must then change 
somewhat our course. We must give a new direction to some por- 
tion of our industry. We must speedily adopt a genuine American 
policy, still cherishing the foreign market ; let us create also a home 
market, to give further scope to the consumption of the produce of 
American industry. Let us counteract the policy of foreigners, and 
withdraw the support which we now give to their industry, and stim- 
ulate that of our own country. It should be a prominent object with 
wise legislators, to multiply the vocations and extend the business of 
society, as far as it can be done, by the protection of our interests at 
home, against the injurious effects of foreign legislation. Suppose we 
were a nation of fishermen, or of skippers, to the exclusion of every 
other occupation, and the legislature had the power to introduce the 
pursuits of agriculture and manufactures, would not our happiness be 
promoted by an exertion of its authority ? All the existing employ- 
ment* of society, the learned professions, commerce, agriculture, are 

54 



230 SPEECHES OF HEWRT CLAT. 

now overflowing. We stand in each other's way. Hence the want 
of employment. Hence the eager pursuit after public stations, which 
I have before glanced at. I have been again and again shocked, dur- 
ing this session, by instances of solicitation for places before the va- 
cancies existed. The pulse of incumbents, who happened to be taken 
ill, is not marked with more anxiety by the attending physicians, than 
by those who desire to succeed them, though with very opposite feel- 
ings. Our old friend, the faithful sentinel, who has stood so long at 
our door, and the gallantry of whose patriotism deserves to be noticed, 
because it was displayed when that virtue was most rare and most 
wanted, on a memorable occasion in this unfortunate city, became in- 
disposed some weeks ago. The first intelligence which I had of his 
dangerous illness, was by an application for his unvacated place. I 
hastened to assure myself of the extent of his danger, and was happy 
to find that the eagerness of succession outstripped the progress of 
disease. By creating a new and extensive business, then, we should 
not only give employment to those who want it, and augment the 
sum of national wealth, by all that this new business would create, 
but we should meliorate the condition of those who are now engaged 
in existing employments. In Europe, particularly in Great Britain, 
their large standing armies, large navies, large even on their peace 
arrangement, their established church, afford to their population em- 
ployments, which, in that respect, the happier constitution of our 
government does not tolerate but in a very limited degree. The peace 
establishments of our army and our navy are extremely small, and I 
hope ever will be. We have no established church, and I trust never 
shall have. In proportion as the enterprise of our citizens in public 
employments is circumscribed, should we excite and invigorate it in 
private pursuits. 

The creation of a home market is not only necessary to procure for 
our agriculture a just reward of its labors, but it is indispensable to 
obtain a supply of our necessary wants. If we cannot sell, we can- 
not buy. That portion of our population, (and we have seen that it 
is not less than four-fifths,) which makes comparatively nothing that 
foreigners will buy, have nothing to make purchases with from for- 
eigners. It is in vain that we are told of the amount of our exports 
supplied by the planting interest. They may enable the planting in- 
terest to supply all its wants ; but they bring no ability to the inter- 
ests not planting ; unless, which cannot be pretended, the planting 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 231 

interest is an adequate vent for the surplus produce of the labor of 
all other interests. It is in vain to tantalize us with the great cheap- 
ness of foreign fabrics. There must be an ability to purchase, if an 
article be obtained, whatever may be the price, high or low, at which 
it is sold. And a cheap article is as much beyond the grasp of him 
who has no means to buy, as a high one. Even if it were true that the 
American manufacturer would supply consumption at dearer rates, it is 
better to have his fabrics than the unattainable foreign fabrics ; because 
it is better to be ill supplied than not supplied at all. A coarse coat, 
which will communicate warmth and cover nakedness, is better than 
no coat. The superiority of the home market results, 1st, from its 
steadiness and comparative certainty at all times ; 2d, from the crea- 
tion of reciprocal interests ; 3d, from its greater security ; and, lastly, 
from an ultimate and not distant augmentation of consumption, (and 
consequently of comfort,) from increased quantity and reduced prices. 
But this home market, highly desirable as it is, can only be created 
and cherished by the protection of our own legislation against the 
inevitable prostration of our industry, which must ensue from the 
action of foreign policy and legislation. The effect and the value 
of this domestic care of our own interests will be obvious from a few 
facts and considerations. Let us suppose that half a million of per- 
sons are now employed abroad in fabricating, for our consumption, 
those articles, of which, by the operation of this bill, a supply is in- 
tended to be provided within ourselves. That half a million of per- 
sons are, in effect, subsisted by us ; but their actual means of subsist- 
ence are drawn from foreign agriculture. If we could transport them 
to this country, and incorporate them in the mass of our own popula- 
tion, there would instantly arise a demand for an amount of provis- 
ions equal to that which would be requisite for their subsistence 
throughout the whole year. That demand, in the article of flour 
alone, would not be less than the quantity of about nine hundred 
thousand barrels, besides a proportionate quantity of beef, and pork, 
and other articles of subsistence. But nine hundred thousand bar- 
rels of flour exceeds the entire quantity exported last year, by nearly 
one hundred and fifty thousand barrels. What activity would not 
this give, what cheerfulness would it not communicate, to our now 
dispirited farming interest! But if, instead of these, five hundred 
thousand artisans emigrating from abroad, we give by this bill em- 
ployment to an equal number of our own citizens, now engaged in un- 
profitable agriculture, or idle, from the want of business, the benefi 



232 *PE1CHB9 OF HENRT CLAT. 

cial effect upon the productions of our farming labor would be nearly 
doubled. The quantity would be diminished by a subtraction of the 
produce from the labor of all those who should be diverted from its 
pursuits to manufacturing industry, and the value of the residue 
would be enhanced, both by that diminution, and the creation of the 
home market to the extent supposed. And the honorable gentleman 
from Virginia may repress any apprehensions which he entertains, 
that the plough will be abandoned, and our fields remain unsown. 
For, under all the modifications of social industry, if you will secure 
to it a just reward, the greater attractions of agriculture will give to 
it that proud superiority which it has always maintained. If we sup- 
pose no actual abandonment of farming, but, what is most likely, a 
gradual and imperceptible employment of population in the business 
of manufacturing, instead of being compelled to resort to agriculture, 
the salutary effect would be nearly the same. Is any part of our 
common country likely to be injured by a transfer of the theatre of 
fabrication, for our own consumption, from Europe to America ? All 
that those parts, if any there be, which will not, or cannot engage 
in manufactures, should require, is, that their consumption should 
be "well supplied ; and if the objects of that consumption are produced 
in other parts of the Union, that can manufacture, far from having 
any just cause of complaint, their patriotism will and ought to incul- 
cate a cheerful acquiescence in what essentially contributes, and is 
indispensably necessary to the prosperity of the common family. 

The great desideratum in political economy, is the same as in pri- 
vate pursuits ; that is, what is the best application of the aggregate 
industry of a nation, that can be made honestly to produce the largest 
sum of national wealth ? Labor is the source of all wealth ; but it is 
not natural labor only. And the fundamental error of the gentleman 
from Virginia, and of the school to which he belongs, in deducing, 
from our sparse population, our unfitness for the introduction of the 
arts, consists in their not sufficiently weighing the importance of the 
power of machinery. In former times, when but little comparative 
use was made of machinery, manual labor, and the price of wages, 
were circumstances of the greatest consideration. But it is far other- 
wise in these latter times. Such are the improvements and the per- 
fection of machinery, that, in analyzing the compound value of many 
fabrics, the element of natural labor is so inconsiderable as almost to 
•scape detection. This truth is demonstrated by many facte. For- 



OUT AMERICAN INDU8TRT. 233 

merly, Asia, in consequence of the density of her insulation, and the 
consequent lowness of wages, laid Europe under tribute for many 
of her fabrics. Now Europe re-acts upon Asia, and Great Britain, 
in particular, throws back upon her countless millions of people, the 
rich treasures produced by artificial labor, to a vast amount, infinitely 
cheaper than they can be manufactured by the natural exertions of 
that portion of the globe. But Britain is herself the most striking 
illustration of the immense power of machinery. Upon what other 
principle can you account for the enormous wealth which she has ac- 
cumulated, and which she annually produces ? A statistical writer 
of that country, several years ago, estimated the total amount of the 
artificial or machine labor of the nation, to be equal to that of one 
hundred millions of able-bodied laborers. Subsequent estimates of 
her artificial labor, at the present day, carry it to the enormous 
height of two hundred millions. But the population of the three 
kingdoms is twenty-one millions five hundred thousand. Supposing 
that, to furnish able-bodied labor to the amount of four millions, the 
natural labor will be but two per centum of the artificial labor. In 
the production of wealth she operates, therefore, by a power (includ- 
ing the whole population) of two hundred and twenty-one millions 
five hundred thousand ; or, in other words, by a power eleven times 
greater than the total of her natural power. If we suppose the 
machine labor of the United States to be equal to that of ten millions 
of able-bodied men, the United States will operate, in the creation of 
wealth, by a power (including all their population,) of twenty mil- 
lions. In the creation of wealth, therefore, the power of Great Brit- 
ain, compared to that of the United States, is as eleven to one. That 
these views are not imaginary, will be, I think, evinced, by contrast- 
ing the wealth, the revenue, the power of the two countries. Upon 
what other hypothesis can we explain those almost incredible exer- 
tions which Britain made during the late wars of Europe ? Look at 
her immense subsidies ! Behold her standing, unaided and alone, and 
breasting the storm of Napoleon's colossal power, when all conti- 
nental Europe owned and yielded to its irresistible sway ; and finally, 
contemplate her vigorous prosecution of the war, with and without 
allies, to its splendid termination, on the ever memorable field of Wa- 
terloo ! The British works which the gentleman from Virginia has 
quoted, portray a state of the most wonderful prosperity, in regard to 
wealth and resources, that ever was before contemplated. Let U3 
'ook a little into the semi-official pamphlet, written with great force, 



234 SPEECHES Or HENRY CLAY. 

clearness, and ability, and the valuable work of Lowe, to both of 
which that gentleman has referred. The revenue of the united king- 
dom amounted, during the latter years of the war, to seventy million? 
of pounds sterling ; and one year it rose to the astonishing height of 
ninety millions sterling, equal to four hundred millions of dollars 
This was actual revenue, made up of real contributions from tht 
purses of the people. After the close of the war, ministers slowly 
and reluctantly reduced the military and naval establishments, and 
accommodated them to a state of peace. The pride of power, every- 
where the same, always unwillingly surrenders any of those circum- 
stances which display its pomp and exhibit its greatness. Contem- 
poraneous with this reduction, Britain was enabled to lighten some 
of the heaviest burdens of taxation, and particularly that most oner- 
ous of all, the income tax. In this lowered state, the revenue of peace, 
gradually rising from the momentary depression incident to a transi- 
tion from war, attained, in 1822, the vast amount of fifty-five millions 
sterling, upwards of two hundred and forty millions of dollars, and 
more than eleven times that of the United States for the same year ; 
thus indicating the difference, which I have suggested, in the respec- 
tive productive powers of the two countries. The excise alone, 
(collected under twenty-five different heads) amounted to twenty- 
eight millions, more than one-half of the total revenue of the king- 
dom. This great revenue allows great Britain to constitute an effi- 
cient sinking fund of five millions sterling, being an excess of actual 
income beyond expenditure, and amounting to more than the entire 
revenue of the United States. 

If we look at the commerce of England, we shall perceive that its 
prosperous condition no less denotes the immensity of her riches. 
The average of three years' exports, ending in 1789, was between 
thirteen and fourteen millions. The average for the same term, end- 
ing in 1822, was forty millions sterling. The average of the imports 
for three years, ending in 1789, was seventeen millions. The aver- 
age for the same term, ending in 1822, was thirty-six millions, show- 
ing a favorable balance of four millions. Thus, in a period not longer 
than that which has elapsed since the establishment of our constitu- 
tion, have the exports of that kingdom been tripled ; and this has 
mainly been the effect of the power of machinery. The total amount 
of the commerce of Great Britain is greater since the peace, by one- 
fourth, than it was during the war. The average of her tonnage, 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 235 

during the most flourishing period of the war, was two millions four 
hundred thousand tons. Its average during the three years, 1819, 
1820, and 1821, was two millions six hundred thousand ; exhibiting 
an increase of two hundred thousand tons. If we glance at some of 
the more prominent articles of her manufactures, we shall be assist- 
ed in comprehending the true nature of the sources of her riches. 
The amount of cotton fabrics exported, in the most prosperous year 
of the war, was eighteen million;; sterling. In the year 1820, it was 
sixteen millions six hundred thousand ; in 1S21, twenty millions five 
hundred thousand ; in 1822, twenty-one millions six hundred and 
thirty-nine thousand pounds sterling, presenting the astonishing in- 
crease in two years of upward.: of five millions. The total amount 
of imports in Great Britain, from all foreign parts, of the-article of 
cotton wool, is five millions sterling. After supplying most abund- 
antly the consumption of cotton fabrics within the country, (and a 
people better fed, and clad, and housed, are not to be found under the 
sun than the British nation,) by means of her industry, she gives to 
this cotton wool a new value, which enables her to sell to foreign 
nations to the amount of twenty-one millions six hundred and thirty- 
nine thousand pounds, making a clear profit of upwards of sixteen 
millions five hundred thousand pounds sterling ! In 1821, the value 
of the export of woollen manufactures was four millions three hun- 
dred thousand pounds. In 1822, it was five millions five hundred 
thousand pounds. The success of her restrictive policy is strikingly 
illustrated in the article of silk. In the manufacture of that article 
she labors under great disadvantages, besides that of not producing 
the raw material. She has subdued them all, and the increase of 
the manufacture has been most rapid. Although she is still unable 
to maintain, in foreign countries, a successful competition with the 
silks of France, of India, and of Italy, and therefore exports but lit- 
tle, she gives to the two millions of the raw material which she im- 
ports, in various forms, a value of ten millions, which chiefly enter 
into British consumption. Let us suppose that she was dependant 
upon foreign nations for these ten millions ; what an injurious effect 
would it not have upon her commercial relations with them ! The 
average of the exports of British manufactures, during the peace, ex- 
ceeds the average of the most productive years of the war. The 
amount of her wealth annually produced, is three hundred and fifty 
millions sterling ; bearing a large proportion to all of her pre-existing 
wealth. The agricultural portion of it is said, by the gentleman from 



236 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Virginia, to be greater than that created by any other branch of her 
industry. But that flows mainly from a policy similar to that pro- 
posed by this bill. One-third only of her population is engaged in 
agriculture ; the other two-thirds furnishing a market for the produce 
of that third. Withdraw this market, and what becomes of her agri- 
culture ? The power and the wealth of Great Britain cannot be 
more strikingly illustrated than by a comparison of her population 
and revenue with those of other countries and with our own. 



Countries. Population. burdens. capitil. 

Russia in Europe. 37,000,000 £18,000,000 £0 9 9 

France, including Corsica, 30,700,000 37,000,000 1 4 

Great Britain, exclusive of Ireland, (the taxes 

computed according to the value of money ou 

the European Continent,) 14,500,000 40,000,000 2 15 

Great Britain and Ireland collectively, 21,500,000 44,000,000 2 

England alone, 11,600,000 36,000,000 3 2 

Spain, 11,000,000 6,000,000 11 

Ireland, 7,000,000 4,000,000 11 

The United States of Am sric a, 10,000,000 4,500,000 9 

From this exhibit we must remark, that the wealth of Great Bri- 
tain (and consequently her power) is greater than that of any of the 
other nations with which it is compared. The amount of the contri- 
butions which she draws from the pockets of her subjects, is not re- 
ferred to for imitation, but as indicative of their wealth. The burden 
of taxation is always relative to the ability of the subjects of it. A 
poor nation can pay but little. And the heavier taxes of British sub- 
jects, for example, in consequence of their greater wealth, may be 
easier borne than the much lighter taxes of Spanish subjects, in con- 
sequence of their extreme poverty- The object of wise governments 
should be, by sound legislation, so to protect the industry of their 
own citizens against the policy of foreign powers, as to give to it the 
most expansive force in the production of wealth. Great Britain has 
ever acted, and still acts, on this policy. She has pushed her pro- 
tection of British interest further than any other nation has fostered 
its industry. The result is, greater wealth among her subjects, and 
consequently greater ability to pay their public burdens. If their 
taxation is estimated by their natural labor alone, nominally it is 
greater than the taxation of the subjects of any other power. But, 
if on a scale of their natural and artificial labor, compounded, it is 
less than the taxation of any other people. Estimating it on that 
scale, and assuming the aggregate of the natural and artificial labor 
of the united kingdom to be what I have already stated, two hundred 



OPT AMERICA!* INDUSTRY - . 237 

and twenty-one millions five hundred thousand, the actual taxes paid 
by a British subject are only about three and seven pence sterling. 
Estimating our own taxes, on a similar scale, — that is, supposing 
both descriptions of labor to be equal to tbat of twenty millions of 
able-bodied persons — the amount of tax paid by each soul in the 
United States is four shillings and six pence sterling 

The committee will observe, from that table, that the measure of 
the wealth of a nation is indicated by the measure of its protection 
of its industry ; and that the measure of the poverty of a nation is 
marked by that of the degree in which it neglects and abandons the 
care of its own industry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign 
powers. Great Britain protects most her industry, and the wealth 
of Great Britain is consequently the greatest. France is next in the 
degree of protection, and France is next in the order of wealth. 
Spain most neglects the duty of protecting the industry of her sub- 
jects, and Spain is one of the poorest of European nations. Unfor- 
tunate Ireland, disinherited, or rendered, in her industry, subservient 
to England, is exactly in the same state of poverty with Spain, meas- 
ured by the rule of taxation. And the United States are still poorer 
than either. 

The views of British prosperity, which I have endeavored to pre- 
sent, show that her protecting policy is adapted alike to a state of 
war and of peace. Self-poised, resting upon her own internal resour- 
ces, possessing a home market, carefully cherished and guarded, she 
is ever prepared for any emergency. We have seen her coming out 
of a war of incalculable exertion, and of great duration, with her 
power unbroken, her means undiminished. We have seen that al- 
most every revolving year of peace has brought along with it an in- 
crease of her manufactures, of her commerce, and, consequently, of 
her navigation. We have seen that, constructing her prosperity 
upon the solid foundation of her own protecting policy, it is unaffected 
by the vicissitudes of other states. What is our own condition ? De- 
pending upon the state of foreign powers — confiding exclusively in a 
foreign, to the culpable neglect of a domestic policy — our interests 
are affected by all their movements. Their wars, their misfortunes, 
are the only source of our prosperity. In their peace, and our peace, 
we behold our condition the reverse of that of Great Britain — and 
all our interests stationary or declining. Peace brings to us none of 



238 SPEECHES OF UKNRY CLAY 

the blessings of peace. Our system is anomalous ; alike unfitted to 
general tranquillity, and to a state of war or peace, oil the part of our 
own country. It can succeed only in the rare occurrence of a gen- 
eral state of war throughout Europe. I am no eulogist of England. 
I am far from recommending her systems of taxation. I have ad- 
verted to them only as manifesting her extraordinary ability. The 
political and foreign interest of that nation may have been, as I be 
lieve them to have been, often badly managed. Had she abstained 
from the wars into which she has been plunged by her ambition, or 
the mistaken policy of her ministers, the prosperity of England would, 
unquestionably, have been much greater. But it may happen that 
the public liberty, and the foreign relations of a nation, have been 
badly managed, and yet that its political economy has been wisely 
managed. The alacrity or sullenness with which a people pay taxes, 
depends upon their wealth or poverty. If the system of their rulers 
leads to their impoverishment, they can contribute but little to the 
necessities of the state ; if to their wealth, they cheerfully and 
promptly pay the burdens imposed on them. Enormous as British 
taxation appears to be, in comparison with that of other nations, but 
really lighter as it in fact is, when we consider its great wealth, and 
its powers of production, that vast amount is collected with the moet 
astonishing regularity. 

[Here Mr. Clay read certain passages from Holt, showing that, in 1822, there was 
not one solitary prosecution arising out of the collection of the assessed taxes? 
which are there considered among the most burdensome, and that the prosecutions 
for the violations of the excise laws, in all their numerous branches, were sensibly 
and progressively decreasing.] 

Having called the attention of the committee to the present adverse 
state of our country, and endeavored to point out the causes which 
have led to it ; having shown that similar causes, wherever they 
exist in other countries, lead to the same adversity in their condition ; 
and having shown that, wherever we find opposite causes prevailing, 
a high and animating state of national prosperity exists, the com- 
mittee will agree with me in thinking that it is the solemn duty of 
government to apply a remedy to the evils which afflict our couutry, 
if it can apply ©no. Is there no remedy within the reach of the gov- 
ernment ? Are we doomed to behold our industry languish and 
decay, yet more and more ? But there is a remedy, and that remedy 
consists in modifying our foreign policy, and in adopting a genuine 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 5M» 

American System. We must naturalize the arts in our country ; 
and we must naturalize them by the only means which the wisdom 
of nations has yet discovered to be effectual ; by adequate protection 
against the otherwise overwhelming influence of foreigners. This is 
only to be accomplished by the establishment of a tariff, to the con- 
sideration of which I am now brought. 

And what is this tariff"? It seems to have been regarded as a sort 
of monster, huge and deformed — a wild beast, endowed with tre- 
mendous powers of destruction, about to be let loose among our peo- 
ple — if not to devour them, at least to consume their substance. But 
let us calm our passions, and deliberately survey this alarming, this 
terrific being. The sole object of the tariff is to tax the produce of 
foreign industry, with the view of promoting American industry. 
The tax is exclusively levelled at foreign industry. That is the 
avowed and the direct purpose of the tariff*. If it subjects any part 
of American industry to burdens, that is an effect not intended, but is 
altogether incidental, and perfectly voluntary. 

It has been treated as an imposition of burdens upon one part of 
the community by design, for the benefit of another ; as if, in fact, 
money were taken from the pockets of one portion of the people and 
put into the pockets ©f another. But is this a fair representation of 
it ? No man pays the duty assessed on the foreign article by im- 
pulsion, but voluntarily ; and this voluntary duty, if paid, goes into 
the common exchequer, for the common benefit of all. Consumption 
has four objects of choice. 1. It may abstain from the use of the 
foreign article, and thus avoid the payment of the tax. 2. It may 
employ the rival American fabric. 3. It may engage in the business 
of manufacturing, which this bill is designed to foster. 4. Or it may 
supply itself from the household manufactures. 

But it is said by the honorable gentleman from Virginia, that the 
South, owing to the character of a certain portion of its population, 
cannot engage in the business of manufacturing. Now I do not agree 
in that opinion, to the extent in which it is asserted. The circum- 
stance alluded to may disqualify the South from engaging in every 
branch of manufacture as largely as other quarters of the Union, but 
to some branches of it that part of our population is well adapted. 
It indisputably affords great facility in the household or domestic line. 



540 SPEECHES OF HEtfRT CLAT. 

But if the gentleman's premises were true, could his conclusion be 
admitted? According to him, a certain part of our population, hap- 
pily much the smallest, is peculiarly situated. The circumstance of 
its degradation unfits it for the manufacturing arts. The well-being 
of the other, and the larger part of our population, requires the intro- 
duction of those arts. What is to be done in this conflict ? The 
gentleman would have us abstain from adopting a policy called for by 
the interest of the greater and freer part of our population. But is 
that reasonable ? Can it be expected that the interests of the greater 
part should be made to bend to the condition of the servile part of 
our population ? That, in effect, would be to make us the slaves of 
slaves. I went with great pleasure along with my southern friends, 
and I am ready again to unite with them in protesting against the ex- 
ercise of any legislative power on the part of Congress over that deli- 
cate subject, because it was my solemn conviction that Congress was 
interdicted, or at least not authorized by the constitution, to exercise 
any such legislative power. And I am sure that the patriotism of 
the South may be exclusively relied upon to reject a policy which 
should be dictated by considerations altogether connected with that 
degraded class, to the prejudice of the residue of our population. But 
does not a perseverance in the foreign policy, as it now exists in fact, 
make all parts of the Union, not planting, tributary to the planting 
parts ? What is the argument ? It is, that we must continue freely 
to receive the produce of foreign industry, without regard to the pro- 
tection of American industry, that a market may be retained for the 
sale abroad of the produce of the planting portion of the country ; and 
that, if we lessen the consumption in all parts of America, those 
which are not planting, as well as the planting sections, of foreign 
manufactures, we diminish to that extent the foreign market for the 
planting produce. The existing state of things, indeed, presents a 
sort of tacit compact between the cotton grower and the British man- 
ufacturer, the stipulations of which are, on the part of the cotton 
grower, that the whole of the United States, the other portions as 
well as the cotton growing, shall remain open and unrestricted in the 
consumption of British manufactures ; and on the part of the British 
manufacturer, that, in consideration thereof, he will continue to pur- 
chase the cotton of the South. Thus, then, we perceive that the 
proposed measure, instead of sacrificing the South to the other parts 
of the Union, seeks only to preserve them from being absolutely sa- 
crificed under the operation of the tacit compact which I have de- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTBT 241 

scribed. Supposing the South to be actually incompetent, or disin- 
clined to embark at all in the business of manufacturing, is not its 
interest, nevertheless, likely to be promoted by creating a new and 
an American source of supply for its consumption ? Now foreign 
powers, and Great Britain principally, have the monopoly of the sup- 
ply of southern consumption. If this bill should pass, an American 
competitor, in the supply of the South, would be raised up, and ulti 
mately, I cannot doubt, that it will be supplied cheaper and better. I 
have before had occasion to state, and will now again mention, the 
beneficial effects of American competition with Europe in furnishing 
a supply of the article of cotton bagging. After the late war, the in- 
flux of the Scottish manufacture prostrated the American establish- 
ments. The consequence was, that the Scotch possessed the monop- 
oly of the supply, and the price of it rose, and attained, the year 
before last, a height which amounted to more than an equivalent for 
ten years' protection to the American manufacture. This circum- 
stance tempted American industry again to engage in the business, 
and several valuable manufactories have been established in Kentucky. 
They have reduced the price of the fabric very considerably ; but 
without the protection of government, they may again be prostrated ; 
and then the Scottish manufacturer engrossing the supply of our con- 
sumption, the price will probably again rise. It has been tauntingly 
asked if Kentucky cannot maintain herself in a competition with the 
two Scottish towns of Inverness and Dundee ? But is that a fair 
statement of the case ? Those two towns are cherished and sustain- 
ed by the whole protecting policy of the British empire, whilst Ken- 
tucky cannot, and the general government will not, extend a like pro- 
tection to the few Kentucky villages in which the article is made. 

If the cotton-growing consumption could be constitutionally ex- 
empted from the operation of this bill, it might be fair to exempt it 
upon the condition that foreign manufactures, the proceeds of the sale 
of cotton abroad, should not enter at all into the consumption of the 
other parts of the United States. But such an arrangement as that, 
if it could be made, would probably be objected to by the cotton- 
growing country itself. 

2. The second objection to the proposed bill is, that it will diminish 
the amount of our exports. It can have no effect upon our exports, 
except those which are sent to Europe. Except tobacco and rice, 



242 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

we send there nothing but the raw materials. The argument is, that 
Europe will not buy of us if we do not buy of her. The first objec- 
tion to it is, that it calls upon us to look to the question, and to take 
care of European ability in legislating for American interests. Now 
if, in legislating for their interests, they would consider and provide 
for our ability, the principle of reciprocity would enjoin us so to regu- 
late our intercourse with them, as to leave their ability unimpaired. 
But I have shown that, in the adoption of their own policy, their in- 
quiry is strictly limited to a consideration of their peculiar interests, 
without any regard to that of ours. The next remark I would make 
is, that the bill only operates upon certain articles of European indus- 
try, which it is supposed our interest requires us to manufacture 
within ourselves ; and although its effect will be to diminish the 
amount of our imports of those articles, it leaves them free to supply 
us with any other produce of their industry. And since the circle of 
human comforts, refinements, and luxuries, is of great extent, Europe 
will still find herself able to purchase from us what she has hitherto 
done, and to discharge the debt in some of those objects. If there be 
any diminution in our exports to Europe, it will probably be in the 
article of cotton to Great Britain. I have stated that Britain buys 
cotton wool to the amount of about five millions sterling, and sells to 
foreign states to the amount of upwards of twenty-one millions and 
a half. Of this sum, we take a little upwards of a million and a 
half. The residue of about twenty millions she must sell to other 
foreign powers than to the United States. Now their market will 
continue open to her as much after the passage of this bill as before. 
She will therefore require from us the raw material to supply their 
consumption. But it is said she may refuse to purchase it of us, and 
seek a supply elsewhere: There can be but little doubt that she now 
resorts to us, because we can supply her cheaper and better than any 
other country. And it would be unreasonable to suppose that she 
would cease, from any pique towards us, to pursue her own interest. 
Suppose she was to decline purchasing from us : the consequence 
would be, that she would lose the market for the twenty millions 
sterling, which she now sells other foreign powers, or enter it under a 
disadvantageous competition with us, or with other nations, who 
should obtain their supplies of the raw material from us. If there 
should be any diminution, therefore, in the exportation of cotton, it 
would only be in the proportion of about one and a half to twenty ; 
that is, a little upwards of five per centum ; the loss of a market for 



0> AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 243 

which abroad would be fully compensated by the market for the arti- 
cle created at Home. Lastly, I would observe, that the new applica- 
tion of our industry, producing new objects of exportation, and they 
possessing much greater value than in the raw state, we should be in 
the end amply indemnified by their exportation. Already the item in 
our foreign exports of manufactures is considerable ; and we know 
that our cotton fabrics have been recently exported in a large amount 
to South America, where they maintain a successful competition with 
those of any other country. 

3. The third objection to the tariff is, that it wiS diminish our navi- 
gation. Tin's great interest deserves every encouragement consistent 
with the paramount interest of agriculture. In the order of nature it 
is secondary to both agriculture and manufactures. Its business is 
the transportation of the productions of those two superior branches 
of industry. It cannot therefore be expected that they shall be 
moulded or sacrificed 10 suit its purposes ; but, on the contrary, navi- 
gation must accommodate itself to the actual state of agriculture and 
manufactures. If, as I believe, we have nearly reached the maximum 
in value of our exports of raw produce to Europe, the effect hereafter 
will be, as it re>pects that branch of our trade, if we persevere in the 
foreign system, to retain our navigation at the point which it has now 
reached. By reducing, indeed, as will probably take place, the price 
of our raw materials, a further quantity of them could be exported, 
and, of course, additional employment might in that way be given to 
our tonnage ; but that would be at the expense of the agricultural 
interest. If I am right in supposing that no effect will be produced 
by this measure upon any other branch of our export trade but that 
to Europe — that with regard to that there will be no sensible dimi- 
nution of «>ur exports, and that the new direction given to a portion 
of our industry will produce other objects of exportation, the proba- 
bility is, that our foreign tonnage will be even increased under the 
operation of this bill. But, if I am mistaken in these views, and it 
should experience any reduction, the increase in our coasting tonnage, 
resulting frorri the greater activity of domestic exchanges, will more 
than compensate the injury. Although our navigation partakes in 
the general distress of the country, it is less depressed than any other 
of our ^'eat interests. The foreign tonnage has been graduallv though 
slpAvlyincr • ■■ •■ • isiv Vn'dour coasting tonnage, since *HJt6, 

has in r'eased • '- <f >n • honsand tons. 



244 SPEECHES OF HEHRY CLAY. 

4. It is next contended that the effect of the measure will be to 
diminish our foreign commerce. The objection assumes, what I have 
endeavored to controvert, that there will be a reduction in the value 
of our exports. Commerce is an exchange of commodities. What- 
ever will tend to augment the wealth of a nation must increase its 
capacity to make these exchanges. By new productions, or creating 
new values in the fabricated forms which shall be given to old ob- 
jects of our industry, we shall give to commerce a fresh spring, a new 
aliment. The foreign commerce of the country, from causes, some 
of which 1 have endeavored to point out, has been extended as far 
as it can be. And I think there can be but little doubt that the bal- 
ance of trade is, and for some time past has been, against us. I was 
surprised to hear the learned gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Webster) rejecting, as a detected and exploded fallacy, the idea of a 
balance of trade. I have not time nor inclination now to discuss that 
topic. But I will observe, that all nations act upon the supposition 
of the reality of its existence, and seek to avoid a trade, the balance 
of which is unfavorable, and to foster that which presents a favorable 
balance. However the account be made up, whatever may be the 
items of a trade, commodities, fishing industry, marine labor, the car- 
rying trade, all of which I admit should be comprehended, there can 
be no doubt, I think, that the totality of the exchanges of all descrip- 
tions made by one nation with another, or against the totality of the 
exchanges of all other nations together, may be such as to present 
the state of an unfavorable balance with the one or with all. It is 
true that, in the long run, the measures of these exchanges, that is, 
the totality in value of what is given and of what is received, mu6t 
be equal to each other. But great distress may be felt long before 
the counterpoise can be effected. In the mean time, there will be an 
export of the precious metals, to the deep injury of internal trade, an 
unfavorable state of exchange, an export of public securities, a resort 
to credit, debt, mortgages. Most of, if not all, these circumstances, 
are believed now to be indicated by our country, in its foreign com- 
mercial relations. What have we received, for example, for the pub- 
lic stocks sent to England ? Goods. But those stocks are our bond, 
which must be paid. Although the solidity of the credit of the Eng- 
lish public securities is not surpassed by that of our own, strong as it 
justly is, when have we seen English stocks sold in our market, and 
regularly quoted in the prices current as American stocks are in Eng- 
land ? An unfavorable balance with one nation, may be made up bv 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 245 

a favorable balance with other nations ; but the fact of the existence 
of that unfavorable balance is strong presumptive evidence against 
the trade. Commerce will regulate itself! Yes, and the extrava- 
gance of a spendthrift heir, who squanders the rich patrimony which 
has descended to him, will regulate itself ultimately. But it will be 
a regulation which will exhibit him in the end safely confined within 
the walls of a jail. Commerce will regulate itself ! But is it not the 
duty of wise governments to watch its course, and, beforehand, to 
provide against even distant evils ; by prudent legislation stimulating 
the industry of their own people, and checking the policy of foreign 
powers as it operates on them ? The supply, then, of the subjects 
of foreign commerce, no less than the supply of consumption at home, 
requires of us to give a portion of our labor such a direction as will 
enable us to produce them. That is the object of the measure un- 
der consideration, and I cannot doubt that, if adopted, it will accom- 
plish its object. 

5. The fifth objection to the tariff is, that it will diminish the pub- 
lic revenue, disable us from paying the public debt, and finally com- 
pel a resort to a system of excise and internal taxation. This objec- 
tion is founded upon the supposition that the reduction in the impor- 
tation of the subjects, on which the increased duties are to operate, 
will be such as to produce the alleged effect. All this is matter of 
mere conjecture, and can only be determined by experiment. I have 
very little doubt, with my colleague, (Mr. Trimble,) that the revenue 
will be increased considerably, for some years at least, under the 
operation of this bill. The diminution in .the quantity imported, will 
be compensated by the augmentation of the duty. In reference to 
the article of molasses, for example, if the import of it should be re- 
duced fifty per centum, the amount of duty collected would be the 
same as it now is. But it will not, in all probability, be reduced by 
any thing like that proportion. And then there are some other ar- 
ticles which will continue to be introduced in as large quantities as 
ever, notwithstanding the increase of duty, the object in reference to 
them being revenue, and not the encouragement of domestic manu- 
factures. Another cause will render the revenue of this year, in 
particular, much more productive than it otherwise would have been ; 
and that is, that large quantities of goods have been introduced into 
the country, in anticipation of the adoption of this measure. The 
*«gle does not dart a keener gaze upon his intended prey, than that 

56 



246 SPEECHES OF HENRt CLAT. 

with which the British manufacturer and merchant watches the for- 
eign market, and the course even of our elections as well as our legis- 
lation. The passage of this bill has been expected ; and all our in- 
formation is, that the importations, during this spring, have been im- 
mense. But, further, the measure of our importations is that of our 
exportations. If I am right in supposing that, in future, the amount 
of these, in the old or new forms, of the produce of our labor will not 
be diminished, but probably increased, then the amount of our impor- 
tations, and, consequently, of our revenue, will not be reduced, but 
may be extended. If these ideas be correct, there will be no inability 
on the part of government to extinguish the public debt. The pay- 
ment of that debt, and the consequent liberation of the public resour- 
ces from the charge of it, is extremely desirable. No one is more 
anxious than I am to see that important object accomplished. But 1 
entirely concur with the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Barbour) in 
thinking that no material sacrifice of any of the great interests of the 
nation ought to be made to effectuate it. Such is the elastic and ac- 
cumulating nature of our public resources, from the silent augmenta- 
tion of our population, that if, in any given state of the public reve- 
nue, we throw ourselves upon a couch and go to sleep, we may, after 
a short time, awake with an ability abundantly increased to redeem 
any reasonable amount of public debt with which we may happen to 
be burdened. The public debt of the United States, though nomi- 
nally larger now than it was in the year 1791, bears really no sort of 
discourao-ino- comparison to its amount at that time, whatever stand- 
ard we may choose to adopt to institute the comparison. It was in 
1791 about seventy-five millions of dollars. It is now about ninety- 
Then we had a population of about four millions. Now we have up- 
wards of ten millions. Then we had a revenue short of five millions 
of dollars. Now our revenue exceeds twenty. If we select popula- 
tion as the standard, our present population is one hundred and fifty 
per centum greater than it was in 1791 ; if revenue, that is four times 
more now than at the former period ; whilst the public debt has in- 
creased only in a ratio of twenty per centum. A public debt of three 
hundred millions of dollars at the present day, considering our actual 
ability, compounded both of the increase of population and of revenue, 
would not be more onerous now than the debt of seventy-five mil- 
lions of dollars was, at the epoch of 1791, in reference to the same 
circumstances. If I am right in supposing that, under the operation 
of the proposed measure, there will not be any diminution, but a 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. £47 

probable increase of the public revenue) there vrill be no difficulty in 
defraying the current expenses of government, and paying the princi- 
pal as well as the interest of the public debt, as it becomes due. Let 
us for a moment, however, indulge the improbable supposition of the 
opponents of the tariff, that there will be a reduction of the revenue 
to the extent of the most extravagant calculation which has been 
made, that is to say, to the extent of five millions. That sum deduct- 
ed, we shall still have remaining a revenue of about fifteen millions. 
The treasury estimates of the current service of the years 1822, 
1823, and 1824, exceed, each year, nine millions. The lapse of 
revolutionary pensions, and judicious retrenchments which might be 
made, without detrittfent ta ftny of the essentia) establishments of the 
country, would probably reduce them below nine millions. Let us 
assume that sum, to which add about five millions and a half for the 
interest of the public debt, and the wants of government would re- 
quire a revenue of fourteen and a half millions, leaving a surplus of 
revenue of half a million beyond the public expenditure. Thus, by 
a postponement of the payment of the principal of the public debt, in 
which the public creditors would gladiy acquiesce, and confiding, for 
the means of redeeming it in the necessary increase of our revenue 
from the natural augmentation of our population and consumption, we 
may safely adopt the proposed measure, even if it should be attended 
(which is confidently denied) with the supposed diminution of reve- 
nue. We shall not then have occasion to vary the existing system 
of taxation ; we shall be under no necessity to resort either to direct 
taxes or to an excise . But suppose the alternative were really forced 
upon us of continuing the foreign system, with its inevitable impover- 
ishment of the country, but with the advantage of the present mode 
of collecting the taxes, or of adopting the American System, with its 
increase oi' the national wealth, but with the disadvantage of an ex- 
cise, could any one hesitate between them ? Customs and aa excise 
agree in the essential particulars, that they are both taxes upon con- 
sumption, and both, are voluntary. They differ only in the mode of 
collection. The office for the collection of one is located on the fron- 
tier, and that for the other within the interior. I believe it was Mr. 
Jefferson, who, in reply to the boast of a citizen of New York of the 
amount of the public revenue paid by that city, asked who would 
pay it if the collector's office were removed to Paulus Hook on the 
Stew Jersey shore . : National wealth is the source of all taxation. 
And, my word for it, the people are loo imv Higent to be deceived by 



248 SPBECHES OF HKNRT CLAT. 

mere names, and not to give a decided preference to that system 
which is hased upon their wealth and prosperity, rather than to that 
which is founded upon their impoverishment and ruin. 

6. But, according to the opponents of the domestic policy, the p*%» 
posed system will force capital and labor into new and reluctant em • 
ployments ; we are not prepared, in consequence of the high price of 
wages, for the successful establishment of manufactures, and we must 
fail in the experiment. We have seen that the existing occupations 
of our society, those of agriculture, commerce, navigation, and the 
learned professions, are overflowing with competitors, and that the 
want of employment is severely felt. Now what does this bill pro- 
pose ? To open a new and extensive field of business, in which all 
who choose may enter. There is no compulsion upon any one to 
engage in it. An option only is given to industry, to continue in the 
present unprofitable pursuits, or to embark in a new and promising 
one. The effect will be to lessen the competition in the old branches 
of business, and to multiply our resources for increasing our comforts, 
and augmenting the national wealth. The alleged fact, of the high 
price of wages, is not admitted. The truth is, that no class of society 
suffers more, in the present stagnation of business, than the laboring 
class. That is a necessary effect of the depression of agriculture, 
the principal business of the community. The wages of able-bodied 
men vary from five to eight dollars per month ; and such has been 
the want of employment, in some parts of the Union, that instances 
have not been unfrequent, of men working merely for the means of 
present subsistence. If the wages for labor here and in England are 
compared, they will be found not to be essentially different. I agree 
with the honorable gentleman from Virginia, that high wages are a 
proof of national prosperity; we differ only in the means by which 
that desirable end shall be attained. But, if the fact were true, that 
the wages of labor are high, I deny the correctness of the argument 
founded upon it. The argument assumes, that natural labor is the 
principal element in the business of manufacture. That was the an- 
cient theory. But the valuable inventions and vast improvements 
in machinery, which have been made within a few past years, have 
produced a new era in the arts. The effect of this change, in the 
powers of production, may be estimated, from what I have already 
(rtated in relation to England, and to the triumphs of European arti- 
ficial labor over the natural labor of Asia. In considering the fitness 



OW AMERICAN rWDUSTRT- 349 

of a nation for the establishment of manufactures, we must no longer 
limit our views to the state of its population, and the price of wages. 
All circumstances must be regarded, of which that is, perhaps, the 
least important. Capital, ingenuity in the construction, and adroit- 
ness in the use of machinery, and the possession of the raw materials, 
are those which deserve the greatest consideration. All these cir- 
cumstances { except that of capital, of which there is no deficiency) 
exist in our country in an eminent degree, and more than counter- 
balance the disadvantage, if it really existed, of the lower wages of 
labor in Great Britain. The dependance upon foreign nations for the 
raw material of any great manufacture, has been ever considered as 
a discouraging fact. The state of our population is peculiarly favora- 
ble to the most extensive introduction of machinery. We have no 
prejudices to combat, no persons to drive out of employment. The 
pamphlet, to which we have had occasion so often to refer, in enu- 
merating the causes which have brought in England their manufac- 
tures to such a state of perfection, and which now enable them, in 
the opinion of the writer, to defy all competition, does not specify, 
as one of them, low wages. It assigns three — 1st, capital; 2d, ex- 
tent and costliness of machinery ; and 3d, steady and persevering 
industry. No' withstanding the concurrence of so many favorable 
causes, in our country, for the introduction of the arts, we are earn- 
estly dissuaded from making the experiment, and our ultimate failure 
is confidently predicted. Why should we fail ? Nations, like men, 
fail in nothing which they boldly attempt, when sustained by virtu- 
ous purpose and firm resolution. I am not willing to admit this de- 
preciation of American skill and enterprise. I am not willing to 
strike before an eflbrt is .made. All our past history exhorts us to 
proceed, and inspires us with animating hopes of success. Past pre- 
dictions of our incapacity have failed, and present predictions will 
not be realized. At thf* commencement of this government, we were 
told that the attempt would be idle to construct a marine adequate 
to the commerce of thr- country, or even to the business of its coast- 
in* trade. Trie founders of our government did not listen to these 
discouraging counsels ; and behold the fruits of their just comprehen- 
sion of our resources. Our restrictive policy was denounced, and it 
Was foretold that it would utterly disappoint all our expectations. But 
our restrictive policy has been eminently successful ; and the share 
which our navigation now enjoys in the trade with France, and with 
the British West India Islands, attests its victory. What were not the 



250 SFEE6HES OF HENRY CLAT 

disheartening predictions of the opponents of the late war ? Defeat, 
discomfiture, and disgrace, were to be the certain, but not the worst 
effect of it. Here, again, did prophecy prove false ; and the energies 
of our country, and the valor and the patriotism of our people, carried 
us gloriously through the war. We are now, and ever will be, essen- 
tially an agricultural people. Without a material change in the fixed 
habits of the country, the friends of this measure desire to draw to it, 
as a powerful auxiliary to its industry, the manufacturing arts. The 
difference between a nation with, and without the arts, may be con 
ceived, by the difference between a keel-boat and a steamboat, com 
bating the rapid torrent of the Mississippi. How slow does the for- 
mer ascend, hugging the sinuosities of the shore, pushed on by he» 
hardy and exposed crew, now throwing themselves in vigorous con 
cert on their oars, and then seizing the pendent boughs of overhang- 
ing trees : she seems hardly to move ; and her scanty cargo is scarce- 
ly worth the transportation ! With what ease is she not passed b} 
the steamboat, laden with the riches of all quarters of the world, with 
a crew of gay, cheerful, and protected passengers, now dashing into 
the midst of the current, or gliding through the eddies near the shore ' 
Nature herself seems to survey, with astonishment, the passing Avon 
der, and, in silent submission, reluctantly to own the inagnificeni 
triumphs, in her own vast dominion, of Fulton's immortal genius ! 

7. But it is said that, wherever there is a concurrence of favor abk 
circumstances, manufactures will arise of themselves, without pro- 
tection ; and that we should not disturb the natural progress of 
industry, but leave things to themselves. If all nations would modify 
their policy on this axiom, perhaps it would be better for the com- 
mon good of the whole. Even then, in consequence of natural ad- 
vantages and a greater advance in civilization and in the arts, some 
nations would enjoy a state of much higher prosperity than others. 
But there is no universal legislation. The globe is divided into dif- 
ferent communities, each seeking to appropriate to itself all the 
advantages it can, without reference to the prosperity of others. 
Whether this is right or not, it has always been, and ever will be the 
case. Perhaps the care of the interests of one people is sufficient for 
all the wisdom of one legislature ; and that it is, among nations as 
among individuals, that the happiness of the whole is best secured 
by each attending to its own peculiar interests. 'I he proposition to 
be maintained by our adversaries, is, that manufactures, without pro- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 251 

tection, will, in due time, spring up in our country, and sustain them- 
selves, in a competition with foreign fabrics, however advanced the 
arts, and whatever the degree of protection may be in foreign coun- 
tries. Now I contend that this proposition is refuted by all experi- 
ence, ancient and modern, and in every country. If I am asked why 
unprotected industry should not succeed in a struggle with protected 
industry, I answer, the fact has ever been so, and that is sufficient ; 
I reply, that uniform experience evinces that it cannot succeed in 
such an unequal contest, and that is sufficient. If we speculate on 
the causes of this universal truth, we may differ about them. Still, 
the indisputable fact remains. Atfd we should be as unwise in not 
availing ourselves of the guide v» hich it furnishes, as a man would be 
who should refuse to bask in the rays of the sun, because he could 
not agree with Judge Woodward as to the nature of the substance 
of that planet, to which we are indebted for heat and light. If I 
were to attempt to particularize the causes which prevent the suc- 
cess of the manufacturing arts, without protection, I should say, that 
they are — 1st, the obduracy of fixed habits. No nation, no indi- 
vidual, will easily change an established course of business, even if 
it be unprofitable ; and least of all is an agricultural people prone to 
innovation. With what reluctance do they not adopt improvements 
in the instruments of husbandry, or in modes of cultivation ! If the 
farmer makes a good crop, and sells il badly, or makes a short crop, 
buoyed up by hope he perseveres, and trusts that a favorable change 
of the market, or of the seasons will enable him, in the succeeding 
year, to repair the misfortunes of the past. 2d, the uncertainty, 
fluctuation, and unsteadiness of the home market, when liable to an 
unrestricted influx of fabrics from all foreign nations ; and 3d, the su- 
perior advance of skill, and amount of capital, which foreign nations 
have obtained, by the protection of their own industry. From the 
latter, or from other causes, the unprotected manufactures of a coun- 
try arc exposed to the danger of being crushed in their infancy, either 
by the design or from the necessities of foreign manufacturers. Gen- 
tlemen are incredulous as to the attempts of foreign merchants and 
manufacturers to accomplish tb destruction of ours. Why should 
they not make such attempts ? If the Scottish manufacturer, by sur- 
charging our market, in one year, with the article of cotton bagging, 
for example, should so reduce the price as to discourage and put 
down the home manufacture, he would secure to himself the monop- 
oly of the supply. And now, having the exclusive possession of the 



252 SPEECHES OF HEtfRY CLAY. 

market, perhaps for a long term of years, he might be more than in- 
demnified for his first loss, in the subsequent rise in the price of the 
article. What have we not seen under our own eyes ! The compe- 
tition for the transportation of the mail, between this place and Bal- 
timore, so excited, that, to obtain it, an individual offered, at great 
loss, to carry it a whole year for one dollar ! His calculation, no 
doubt, was that, by driving his competitor off' the road, and securing 
to himself the carriage of the mail, he would be afterwards able to 
repair his original loss by new. contracts with the department. But 
the necessities of foreign manufacturers, without imputing to them 
any sinister design, may oblige them to throw into our markets the 
fabrics which have accumulated on their hands, in consequence of 
obstruction in the ordinary vents, or from over-calculation ; and the 
forced sales, at losing prices, may prostrate our establishments. 
From this view of the subject, it follows, that, if we would place the 
industry of our country upon a solid and unshakable foundation, we 
must adopt the protecting policy, which has everywhere succeeded, 
and reject that which would abandon it, which has everywhere 
failed. 

8. But if the policy of protection be wise, the gentleman from Vir- 
ginia (Mr. Barbour) has made some ingenious calculations to prove 
that the measure of protection, already extended, has been sufficient- 
ly great. With some few exceptions, the existing duties, of which 
he has made an estimate, were laid with the object of revenue, and 
without reference to that of eneourogcment to our domestic industry ; 
and although it is admitted that the incidental effect of duties, so laid, 
is to promote our manufactures, yet if it falls short of competent pro- 
tection, the duties might as well not have been imposed, with refer- 
ence to that purpose. A moderate addition may accomplish this de- 
sirable end ; and the proposed tariff' is believed to have this charac- 
ter. 

9. The prohibitory policy, it is confidently asserted, is condemned 
by the wisdom of Europe, and by her most enlightened statesmen. 
Is this the fact ? We call upon gentlemen to show in what instance 
a nation that has enjoyed its benefits has surrendered it. 

[Here Mr. Barbour rose (Mr. Clay giving way) and said that England had de- 
parted from it in the China trade, in allowing us to trade with her East India pos- 
sessions*, and in tolerating ot;r navigation to her West India colonies.] 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY- 253 

With respect to. the trade to China, the whole amount of what 
England has done, is, to modify the monopoly of the East India Com- 
pany, in behalf of one and a small part of her subjects, to increase 
the commerce of another and the greater portion of them. The abo- 
lition of the restriction, therefore, operates altogether among the sub- 
jects of England, and does not touch at all the interests of foreign 
powers. The toleration of our commerce to British India, is for the 
sake of the specie, with which we mainly carry on that commerce, 
and which, having performed its circuit, returns to Great Britain in 
exchange for British manufactures. The relaxation from the colo~ 
nial policy, in the instance of our trade and navigation with the West 
Indies, is a most unfortunate example for the honorable gentleman ; 
for it is an illustrious proof of the success of our restrictive policy, 
when resolutely adhered to. Great Britain had prescribed the terms 
on which we were to be graciously allowed to carry on that trade- 
The effect of her regulations was to exclude our navigation altogether, 
and a complete monopoly, on the part of the British navigation, was se- 
cured. We forbade it, unless our vessels should be allowed a perfect 
reciprocity. Great Britain stood out a long time, but finally yielded, 
and our navigation now fairly shares with hers in the trade. Have 
gentlemen no other to exhibit than these trivial relaxations from the 
prohibitory policy — which do not amount to a drop in the bucket — 
to prove its abandonment by Great Britain ? Let them show us that 
her laws are repealed which prohibit the introduction of our flour and 
provisions ; of French silks, laces, porcelain, manufactures of bronze, 
mirrors, woollens ; and of the manufactures of all other nations; and 
then we may be ready to allow that Great Britain has really abolished 
her prohibitory policy. We find there, on the contrary, that system of 
policy in full and rigorous operation, and a most curiously interwo- 
ven system it is, as she enforces it. She begins by protecting all 
parts of her immense dominions against foreign nations. She then 
protects the parent country against the colonies ; and, finally, one 
part of the parent country against another. The sagacity of Scotch 
industry has carried the process of distillation to a perfection which 
would place the art in England on a footing of disadvantageous com- 
petition, and English distillation has been protected accordingly. 
But suppose it were even true that Great Britain had abolished all 
restrictions upon trade, and allowed the ffeest introduction of the pro- 
duce of foreign labor, would that prove it unwise for us to adopt the 
protecting system ? The object of protection is the establishment 

57 



25.1 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAW 

and { erfection of the arts. In England it has accomplished its pur- 
pose, fulfilled its end. If she has not carried every branch of manu- 
facture to the same high state cf perfection that any other nation has, 
she has succeeded in so many, that she may safely challenge the most 
unshackled competition in exchanges. It is upon this very ground 
that many of her writers recommend an abandonment of the prohibi- 
tory system. It is to give greater scope to British industry and en- 
terprise. It is upon the same selfish principle. The object of the 
most perfect freedom of trade, with such a nation as Britain, and of 
the most rigorous system of prohibition, with a nation whose arts are 
in their infancy, may both be precisely the same. In both case* it is 
to give greater expansion to native industry. They only differ in the 
theatres of their operation. The abolition of the restrictive system 
by Great Britain, if by it she could prevail upon other nations to imi- 
tate her example, would have the effect of extending the consump- 
tion of British produce in other countries, where her writers boldly 
affirm it could maintain a fearless competition with the produce of 
native labor. The adoption of the restrictive system, on the part of 
the United Stales, by excluding the produce of foreign labor, would 
extend the consumption of American produce, unable, in the infancy 
and unprotected state of the arts, to sustain a competition with for- 
eign fabrics. Let our arts breathe under the shade of protection ; let 
them be perfected, as they are in England, and we shall then be 
ready, as England now is said to be, to put aside protection, and t# 
enter upon the freest exchanges. To what other cause, than to their 
whole prohibitory policy, can you ascribe British prosperity ? It will 
not do to assign it to that of her antiquity ; for France is no less an- 
cient ; though much less rich and powerful, in proportion to the pop- 
ulation and natural advantages of France. Hallam, a sensible and 
highly approved writer on the middle ages, assigns the revival of the 
prosperity of the north of Europe to the success of the woollen manu- 
factories of Flanders, and the commerce of which their fabrics became 
the subject ; and the commencement of that of England to the estab- 
lishment of similar manufactures there under the Edwards, and to 
the prohibitions which began about the same time. As to the poor 
rates, the theme of so much reproach without England, and of so 
much regret within it, among her speculative writers, the system was 
a strong proof no less of her unbounded wealth than of her pauperism. 
What other nation can dispense, in the form of regulated charity, the 
enormous sum, I believe, often or twelve millions sterling. 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 2to 

IMr. Barbour stated it was reduced to six ; to which Mr. Clay replied, that he 
entertained no doubt but that the benign operation of British protection of home 
industry had greatly reduced it within the last few years, by the full employment of 
her subjects, of which her flourishing trade bore evidence.] 

The number of British paupers was the result of pressing the prin- 
ciple of population to its utmost limits, by her protecting policy, in 
the creation of wealth, and in placing the rest of the world under 
tribute to her industry. Doubtless the condition of England would 
be better, without paupers, if in other respects it remained the same. 
But in her actual circumstances, the poor system has the salutary 
effect of an equalizing corrective of the tendency to the concentration 
of riches, produced by the genius of her political institutions and by 
her prohibitory system. 

But, is it true that England is convinced of the impolicy of the 
prohibitory system, and desirous to abandon it ? What proof have 
we to that effect ? We are asked to reject the evidence deducible 
from the settled and steady practice of England, and to take lessons 
in a school of philosophical writers, whose visionary theories are no 
where adopted ; or, if adopted, bring with them inevitable distress, 
impoverishment, and ruin. Let us hear the testimony of an illustrious 
personage, entitled to the greatest attention, because he speaks after 
the full experiment of the unrestrictive system made in his own em- 
pire. I hope I shall give no offence in quoting from a publication 
issued from "the mint of Philadelphia ;" from a work of Mr. Carey, 
of whom I seize, with great pleasure, the occasion to say, that he 
merits the public gratitude, for the disinterested diligence with which 
he has collected a large mass of highly useful facts, and for the clear 
and convincing reasoning with which he generally illustrates them- 
The emperor of Russia, in March, 1822, after about two years trial of 
the free system, says, through Count Nesselrode : 

" To produce happy effects the principles of commercial freedom must be generally 
adopted. The state which adopts, whilst others reject them, must condemn it* own in- 
dustry and commerce to pay a ruinous tribute tn chose of other nations." 

" From a circulation exempt from restraint, and the facility afforded by reciprocal 
exchanges, almost all the governments at first resolved to seek the means of repair- 
in" the evi'l which Kurope had been doomed to suffer ; but exj>crience, and more cor- 
rect caladatioue, because they were madefrom certain data, and ujwn the results already 
known of the peace that had just taken place, forced them soon to adhere to the prohibit- 
ory system." 

"England preserved hers. Austria remaxned faithful to the rule she had laid down, 
to guard herself against the rivalship of foreign industry. France, with tha mm* 



356 «PEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

views, adopted the most rigorous measure* of precaution. And Prussia publisluid a new 
tariff in October last, which proves that she'found it impossible not to follow the example 
of the rest of Europe." 

" In proportion as the prohibitory system is extended and rendered perfect in other 
countries, that state ivhich pursues the contrary system, makes, from day to day, sacri- 
F/Jces more extensive, and more considerable. * * * It offers a continual 

encouragement to the manufactures of other countries— and its own manufactures perish 
■in the struggle which they arc, as yet, unable to maintain." 

" It is with the most lively leelings of regret we acknowledge it is our own pro- 
per experience which enables us to trace this picture. The evils which it details haw 
been realized in Russia and Poland, since the conclusion of the act of the 7—19 of De- 
cember, 1818. Agriculture without a market, industry without protection, 

LANGUISH AND DECLINE. SPECIE IS EXPORTED, AND THE MOST SOLID COMMERCIAL 

houses are shaken. The public prosperity would soon feel the wound inflicted on 
private fortunes, if new regulations did not promptly change the actual state of 
affairs." 

*' Events have proved that our agriculture and our commerce, as well as our 
manufacturing INDUSTRY, are not only ]Htraly:ed, but brought to the brink or 
ruin." 

The example of Spain has been properly referred to, as affording a 
striking proof of the calamities which attend a state that abandons 
the care of its own internal industry. Her prosperity was greatest 
when the arts, brought there by the Moors, flourished most in that 
kingdom. Then she received from England her wool, and returned 
it in the manufactured state ; and then England was least prosper- 
ous. The two nations have reversed conditions. Spain, after the 
discovery of America, yielding to an inordinate passion for the gold of 
the Indies, sought in their mines that wealth which might have been 
better created at home. Can the remarkable difference in the state of 
the prosperity of the two countries be otherwise explained, than by 
the opposite systems which they pursued ? England, by a sedulous 
attention to her home industry, supplied the means of an advantage- 
ous commerce with her colonies. Spain, by an utter neglect of her 
domestic resources, confided altogether in those which she derived 
from her colonies, and presents an instance of the greatest adversity. 
Her colonies were infinitely more valuable than those of England ; 
and, if she had adopted a similar policy, is it unreasonable to suppose 
that, in wealth and power, she would have surpassed that of Eng- 
land ? I think the honorable gentleman from Virginia does great in- 
justice to the Catholic religion, in specifying that »«i one of the leading 
causes of the decline of Spain. It is a religion entitled to great re- 
spect ; and there is nothing in its character incompatible with the 
highest degree of national prosperity. Is not France, the most pol- 
ished, in many other respects the most distinguished state of Christen- 
dom, catholic ? Is not Flanders, the mos* populous part of Europe, 



OMT AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 

also Catholic ? Are the Catholic parts of Switzerland and of Germany 
less prosperous than those which are Protestant ? 

10. The next objection of the honorable gentleman from Virginia) 
which I shall briefly notice, is, that the manufacturing system is ad- 
verse to the genius of our government, in its tendency to the accumu- 
lation of large capitals in a few hands ; in the corruption of the pub- 
lic morals, which is alleged to be incident to it ; and in the conse- 
quent danger to the public liberty. The first part of the objection 
would apply to every lucrative business, to commerce, to planting, 
and to the learned professions. Would the gentleman introduce the 
system of Lye urgus ? If his principle be correct, it should be ex- 
tended to any and every vocation which had a similar tendency. 
The enormous fortunes in our country — the nabobs of the land — have 
been chiefly made by the profitable pursuit of that foreign commerce 
in more propitious times, which the honorable gentleman would so 
carefully cherish. Immense estates have also been made in the 
South. The dependants are, perhaps, not more numerous upon that 
wealth which is accumulated in manufactures, than they are upon 
that which is acquired by commerce and by agriculture. We may 
safely confide in the laws of distributions, and in the absence of the 
rule of primogeniture, for the dissipation, perhaps too rapid, of large 
fortunes. What has become of those which were held two or three 
generations back in Virginia ? Many of the descendants of the an- 
cient aristocracy, as it was called, of that State, are now in the most 
indigent condition. The best security against the demoralization of 
society, is the constant and profitable employment of its members. 
The greatest danger to public liberty is from idleness and via*. If 
manufactures form cities, so does commerce. And the disorders and 
violence which proceed from the contagion of the passions, are as 
frequent in one description of those communities as in the other. 
There is no doubt but that the yeomanry of a country is the safest 
depository of public liberty. In all time to come, and under any 
probable direction of the labor of our population, the agricultural 
class must be much the most numerous and powerful, and will ever 
retain, as it ought to retain, a preponderating influence in our coun- 
cils. The extent and the fertility of our lands constitute an adequate 
security against an excess in manufactures, and also against oppres- 
sion, on the part of capitalists, towards the laboring portions of the 
community. 



$58 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

11. The last objection, with a notice of which I shall trouble the 
committee, is, that the constitution does not authorize the passage of 
the bill. The gentleman from Virginia does not assert, indeed, that 
it is inconsistent with the express provisions of that instrument, but 
he thinks it incompatible with the spirit of the constitution. If we 
attempt to provide for the internal improvement of the country, the 
constitution, according to some gentlemen, stands in our way. If we 
attempt to protect American industry against foreign policy and the 
rivalry of foreign industry, the constitution presents an insuperable 
obstacle. This constitution must be a most singular instrument ! It 
seems to be made for any other people than our own. Its action is 
altogether foreign. Congress has power to lay duties and imposts, 
under no other limitation whatever than that of their being uniform 
throughout the United States. But they can only be imposed, ac- 
cording to the honorable gentleman, for the sole purpose of revenue. 
This is a restriction which we do not find in the constitution. No 
doubt revenue was a principal object with the framers of the consti- 
tution in investing Congress with the power. But, in executing it, 
may not the duties and imposts be so laid as to secure domestic inter- 
ests ? Or is Congress denied all discretion as to the amount or the 
distribution of the duties and imposts ? 

The gentleman from Virginia has, however, entirely mistaken the 
clause of the constitution on which we rely. It is that which gives 
to Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. 
The grant is plenary, without any limitation whatever, and includes* 
the whole power of regulation, of which the subject to be regulated is 
susceptible. It is as full and complete a grant of the power, as that 
is to declare war. What is a regulation of commerce ? It implies the 
admission or exclusion of the objects of it, and tne terms. Under 
this power some articles, by the existing laws, are admitted freely ; 
others are subjected to duties so high as to amount to their prohibi- 
tion, and various rates of duties are applied to others. Under this 
power, laws of total non-intercourse with some nations, embargoes 
producing an entire cessation of commerce with all foreign countries, 
have been, from time to time, passed. These laws, I have no doubt, 
met with the entire approbation of the gentleman from Virginia. 

fMr Barbour said that he was not in Congn ;s6.] 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 259 

Wherever the gentleman was, whether on his farm or m the pur- 
suit of that profession of which he is an ornament, I have no doubt 
that he gave his zealous support to the laws referred to. 

The principle of the system under consideration has the sanction 
of some of the best and wisest men, in all ages, in foreign countries 
as well as in our own — of the Edwards, of Henry the Great, of Eli- 
zabeth, of the Colberts, abroad ; of our Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, 
Hamilton, at home. But it comes recommended to us by a higher 
authority than any of these, illustrious as they unquestionably are — 
by the master spirit of the age — that extraordinary man, who has 
thrown the Alexanders and the Caesars infinitely farther behind him 
than they stood in advance of the most eminent of their predecessors, 
— that singular man, who, whether he was seated on his imperial 
throne, deciding the fate of nations, and allotting kingdoms to the 
members of his family, with the same composure, if not with the 
same affection, as that with which a Virginia father divides his plan- 
tations among his children, or on the miserable rock of St. Helena, to 
which he was condemned by the cruelty and the injustice of his un- 
worthy victors, is equally an object of the most intense admiration. 
He appears to have comprehended, with the rapidity of intuition, the 
true interests of a state, and to have been able, by the turn of a single 
expression, to develop the secret springs of the policy of cabinets. 
We find that Las Cases reports him to have said : 




condemned by political economists, should not, it is true, be an object to the treasu- 
ry • they should be the guarantee and protection ol a nation, and should correspond 
with the nature and the objects of its trade. Holland, which is destitute ot produc- 
tions and manufactures, and which was a trade only of transit and commission, 
should be free of all fetters and barriers. France, on the contrary, which mricn in 
every sort of production and manufactures, should incessantly guard against the im- 
portations of a rival, who might still continue superior to her. and also against tin- 
cupidity, egotism, and indifference of mere brokers. 

" I have not fallen into the eiior of modern systeir.ati/.ers,"' said the emperor, " who 
imagine that all the wisdom of nations is centred in themselves. Expemeuce bum 
true wisdom of nations. And what docs all the reasoning of economists amount to ! 
They incessantly extol the prosperity of England, and hold h?r upas our model ; but 
the cufitom-houee system is more burdensome and arbitrary in England than U any 
other country. They also condemn prohibitions ; yet it was England set the exam- 
ple of prohibitions ; and they are in fact necessary with regard to certain ei 
Duties cannot adequately supply the place of prohibitions: trrre will always be 
found means 10 defeat ;he object ot the legislator^ In France we are still very tai 
behind on these deligate points, which are f till emperceived or til understood l>v the 
mass of society. Yet what advancement have we not made— what correctness ot 
ideas has been introduced bj my gradual classification of agrienltare, industry, »nd 



260 SPEECHES OF HEtfRT CLAY 

trade ; objects so distinct in themselves, and which present so great and positive a 
graduation ! 

" 1st. Agriculture ; the soul, the first basis of the empire. 

"2d. Industry; the comfort and happiness of the population. 

"3d. Foreign Trade; the superabundance, the proper application of the surplus 
agriculture and industry. 

" Agriculture was continually improving during the whole course of the revolu- 
tion Foreigners thought it ruined in Fiance. In 1814, however, the English were 
compelled to admit that we had little or nothing to learn from them. 

" Industry or manufactures, and internal trade, made immense progress during my 
rei<m The application of chemistry to the manufactures caused them to advance 
with giant strides. I gave an impulse, the effects of which extended throughout 
Europe. 

* Foreign trade, which, in its results, is infinitely inferior to agriculture, was an 
object of subordinate importance in my mind. Foreign trade is made for agriculture 
and home industry, and not the two latter for the former. The interests of these 
three fundamental cases are diverging and frequently conflicting. 1 always promo- 
ted them in their natural gradation, but I could not and ought not to have ranked 
them all on an equality. Time will unfold what I have done ; the national resources 
which I created, and the emancipation from the English which I brought about. 
We have now the secret of the commercial treaty of 1783. France still exclaims 
against its author ; but the English demanded it on pain of resuming the war. They 
wished to do the same after the treaty of Amiens ; but I was then all-powerful ; 1 
was a hundred cubits high. 1 replied, that if they were in possession of the heights 
of Montmartre I would still refuse to sign the treaty. These words were echoed 
through Europe. 

" The English will now impose some such treaty on France, at least, if popular 
elamor and the opposition of the mass of the nation do not force them to draw back. 
This thraldom would be an additional disgrace in the eyes of that nation, which l* 
now beginning to acquire a just perception of her own interests. 

" When I came to the head of the government, the American ships, which were 
permitted to enter our ports on the score of their neutrality, brought us raw materials, 
and had the impudence to sail from France without freight, for the purpose ot taking 
in cargoes of English goods in London. They moreover had the insolence to make 
their payments, when they had any to make, by giving bills on persons in London. 
Hence the vast profits reaped by the English manufacturers and brokers, entirely to 
our prejudice. I made a law that no American should import goods to any amount 
without immediately exporting their exact equivalent. A loud outcry was raised 
against this: it was said that 1 had ruined trade. But what was the consequence ! 
Notwithstanding the closing of my ports, and in spite of the English, who ruled the 
seas, the Americans returned and submitted to my regulations. What might I not 
have done under more favorable circumstances ■? 

" Thus I naturalized in France the manufacture of cotton, which includes, 

" 1st. Spun. Cotton.— We did not previously spin it ourselves; the English supplied 
us with it as a sort of favor. 
" 2d. The JVeb.—\Ve did not yet make it ; it came to us from abroad. 

" 3d. The Printing.— This was the only part of the manufacture that we perform- 
ed ourselves. 1 wished to naturalize the two first branches : and I proposed to the 
council of state that their importation should be prohibited. This excited great 
i alarm. I sent for Oberkamp, and I conversed with him for a long time. I learned 
from him that this prohibition would doubtless produce a shock, but that, after a year 
or two of perseverance, it would prove a triumph, whence we should derive immense 
advantages. Then I issued my decree in spite of all : this was a true piece of states- 
manship. 

" I at first confined myself merely to prohibiting the web ; then I extended the pro- 
hibition to spun cotton ; and we now possess, within ourselves, the three branches of 
the cotton manufacture, to the great benefit of our population, and the injury and re> 
gret of the English, which proves that, in civil government as well as in war, dec 
•ion of character is often indispensable to success " 



ON AMERICAN INDU8TRT. 261 

I will trouble the committee with only one other quotation, which 
I shall make from Lowe ; and from hearing which, the committee 
must share with me in the mortification which I felt on perusing it. 
That author says : 

" It is now above forty years since the United States of America were definitively 
separated from us, and since their situation has afforded a proof that the benefit of 
mercantile intercourse may be retained, in all its extent, without the care of govern- 
ing, or the expense of defending, these once regretted provinces." 

Is there not too much truth in this observation ? By adhering to 
the foreign policy, which I have been discussing, do we not remain 
essentially British, in every thing but the form of our government? 
Are not our interests, our industry, our commerce, so modified as to 
swell British pride, and to increase British power ? 

Mr. Chairman, our confederacy comprehends within its vast limits 
great diversity of interests : agricultural, planting, farming, commer- 
cial, navigating, fishing, manufacturing. No one of these interests is 
felt in the same degree, and cherished with the same solicitude, through- 
out all parts of the Union. Some of them are peculiar to particular 
sections of our common country. But all these great interests are 
confided to the protection of one government — to the fate of one ship : 
and a most gallant ship it is, with a noble crew. If we prosper, and 
are happy, protection must be extended to all ; it is due to all. It is 
the great principle on which obedience is demanded from all. If our 
essential interests cannot find protection from our own government 
against the policy of foreign powers, where are they to get it ? We did 
not unite for sacrifice, but for preservation. The inquiry should be, in 
reference to the great interests of every section of the Union, (I speak 
not of minute subdivisions,) what would be done for those interests if 
that section stood alone and separated from the residue of the republic ? 
If the promotion of those interests would not injuriously affect any oth- 
er section, then every thing should be done for them, which would be 
done if it formed a distinct government. If they come into absolute 
collision with the interests of another section, a reconciliation, if pos- 
sible, should be attempted, by mutual concession, so as to avoid a 
sacrifice of the prosperity of either to that of the other. In such a 
case, all should not be done for one which would be done, if it were 
separated and independent, — but something ; and in devising the 
measure, the good of each part and of the whole should be carefully 
consulted. This is the only mode by which we can preserve, in full 

53' 



262 3PBBCHKS OF HENRY CLAY. 

vigor, the harmony of the whole Union. The South entertains one 
opinion, and imagines that a modification of the existing policy of the 
country, for the protection of American industry, involves the ruin of 
the South. The North, the East, the West, hold the opposite opin- 
ion, and feel and contemplate, in a longer adherence to the foreign 
policy, as it now exists, their utter destruction. Is it true that the 
interests of these great sections of our country are irreconcilable with 
each other ? Are we reduced to the sad and afflicting dilemma of 
determining which shall fall a victim to the prosperity of the other ? 
Happily, I think, there is no such distressing alternative. If the 
North, the West, and the East formed an independent state, unasso- 
ciated with the South, can there be a doubt that the restrictive sys- 
tem would be carried to the point of prohibition of every foreign fab- 
ric of which they produce the raw material, and which they could 
manufacture ? Such would be their policy, if they stood alone ; but 
they are fortunately connected with the South, which believes its in- 
terests to require a free admission of foreign manufactures. Here 
then is a case for mutual concession, for fair compromise. The bill 
under consideration presents this compromise. It is a medium be- 
tween the absolute exclusion and the unrestricted admission of the 
produce of foreign industry. It sacrifices the interest of neither sec- 
tion to that of the other ; neither, it is true, gets all that it wants, nor 
is subject to all that it fears. But it has been said that the South ob- 
tains nothing in this compromise. Does it lose any thing r is the first 
question. I have endeavored to prove that it does not, by showing 
that a mere transfer is effected in the source of the supply of its con- 
sumption from Europe to America ; and that the loss, whatever it 
may be, of the sale of its great staple in Europe, is compensated by 
the neAV market created in America. But does the South really gain 
nothing in this compromise ? The consumption of the other sections, 
though somewhat restricted, is still left open by this bill to foreign 
fabrics purchased by southern staples. So far its operation is bene- 
ficial to the South, and prejudicial to the industry of other sections — 
and that is the point of mutual concession. The South will also gain 
by the extended consumption of its great staple, produced by an in- 
creased capacity to consume it in consequence of the establishment of 
the home market. But the South cannot exert its industry and en- 
terprise in the business of manufactures ! Why not ? The difficul- 
ties, if not exaggerated, are artificial, and may, therefore, be sur- 
mounted. But can the other sections embark in the planting occupa- 



ON AMERICAN INDUSTRY. 263 

hons of the South ? The obstructions which forbid them are natural, 
created by the immutable laws of God, and, therefore, unconquerable. 

Other animating considerations invite us to adopt the policy of this 
system. Its importance, in connexion with the general defence in 
time of war, cannot fail to be duly estimated. Need I recall to our 
painful recollection the sufferings, for the want of an adequate supply 
of absolute necessaries, to which the defenders of their country's 
rights and our entire population were subjected during the late war ? 
Or to remind the committee of the great advantage of a steady and 
unfailing source of supply, unaffected alike in war and in peace ? Its 
importance, in reference to the stability of the Union, that para- 
mount and greatest of all our interests, cannot fail warmly to recom- 
mend it, or at least to conciliate the forbearance of every patriot bo- 
som. Now our people present the spectacle of a vast assemblage of 
jealous rivals, all eagerly rushing to the seaboard, jostling each other 
in their way, to hurry off to glutted foreign markets the perishable 
produce of their labor. The tendency of that policy, in conformity 
to which this bill is prepared, is to transform these competitors into 
friends and mutual customers ; and, by the reciprocal exchanges of 
their respective productions, to place the confederacy upon the most 
solid foundations, the basis of common interest. And is not govern- 
ment called upon, by every stimulating motive, to adapt its policy to 
the actual condition and extended growth of our great republic ? At 
the commencement of our constitution, almost the whole population 
of the United States was confined between the Alleghany mountains 
and the Atlantic Ocean. Since that epoch, the western part of New 
York, of Pennsylvania, of Virginia, all the Western States and Ter- 
ritories, have been principally peopled. Prior to that period, we 
had scarcely an interior. .An interior has sprung up, as it were by 
enchantment, and along with it new interests and new relations, re- 
quiring the parental protection of government. Our policy should be 
modified accordingly, so as to comprehend all, and sacrifice none. 
And are we not encouraged by the success of past experience, in 
respect to the only article which has been adequately protected ? Al- 
ready have the predictions of the friends of the American system, in 
even a shorter time than their most sanguine hopes could have anti- 
cipated, been completely realized in regard to that article ; and con- 
sumption is now better and cheaper supplied with coarse cottons, than 
it was under the prevalence of the foreign system. 



264 8PEZCHES OF HEWRT CLAY. 

Even if the benefits of the policy were limited to certain sections 
of our country, would it not be satisfactory to behold American indus- 
try, wherever situated, active, animated, and thrifty, rather than 
persevere in a course which renders us subservient to foreign indus- 
try 1 But these benefits are two-fold, direct and collateral, and, in 
the one shape or the other, they will diffuse themselves throughout 
the Union. All parts of the Union will participate, more or less, in 
both. As to the direct benefit, it is probable that the North and the 
East will enjoy the largest share. But the West and the South will 
also participate in them. Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Richmond, 
will divide with the northern capitals the business of manufac- 
turing. The latter city unites more advantages for its successful 
prosecution than any other place I know ; Zanesville, in Ohio, only 
excepted. And where the direct benefit does not accrue, that will 
be enjoyed of supplying the raw material and provisions for the con- 
sumption of artisans. Is it not most desirable to put at rest and pre- 
vent the annual recurrence of this unpleasant subject, so well fitted 
by the various interests to which it appeals, to excite irritation and 
to produce discontent ? Can that be effected by its rejection ? Be- 
hold the mass of petitions which lie on our table, earnestly and anx- 
iously entreating the protecting interposition of Congress against the 
ruinous policy which we are pursuing. Will these petitioners, com- 
prehending all orders of society, entire States and communities, public 
companies and private individuals, spontaneously assembling, cease in 
their humble prayers by your lending a deaf ear ? Can you expect 
that these petitioners, and others, in countless numbers, that will, if 
you delay the passage of this bill, supplicate your mercy, should con- 
template their substance gradually withdrawn to foreign countries, 
their ruin slow, but certain and as inevitable as death itself, without 
one expiring effort ? You think the measure injurious to you ; we 
believe our preservation depends upon its adoption. Our convictions, 
mutually honest, are equally strong. What is to be done ? I invoke 
that saving spirit of mutual concession under which our blessed con- 
stitution was formed, and under which alone it can be happily admin- 
istered. I appeal to the South — to the high-minded, generous, and 
patriotic South — with which I have so often co-operated, in attempt- 
ing to sustain the honor and to vindicate the rights of our country. 
Should it not offer, upon the altar of the public good, some sacrifice 
of its peculiar opinions ? Of what does it complain ? A possible 
temporary enhancement in the objects of its consumption. Of what 



CN AMERICAN INDU8TRT. 365 

do we complain ? A total incapacity, produced by the foreign policy, 
to purchase, at any price, necessary foreign objects of consumption. 
In such an alternative, inconvenient only to it, ruinous to us, can we 
expect too much from southern magnanimity ? The just and confi- 
dent expectation of the passage of this bill has flooded the country 
■with recent importations of foreign fabrics. If it should not pass, 
they will complete the work of destruction of our domestic industry. 
If it should pass, they will prevent any considerable rise in the price 
of foreign commodities, until our own industry shall be able to supply 
competent substitutes. 

To the friends of the tariff, 1 would also anxiously appeal. Every 
arrangement of its provisions does not suit each of you ; you desire 
some further alterations ; you would make it perfect. You want 
what you will never get. Nothing human is perfect. And I have 
seen, with great surprise, a piece signed by a member of Congress, 
published in the National Intelligencer, stating that this bill must be 
rejected, and a judicious tariff brought in as its substitute. A judi- 
cious tariff! No member of Congress could have signed that piece ; 
or, if he did, the public ought not to be deceived. If this bill do 
not pass, unquestionably no other can pass at this session, or proba- 
bly during this Congress. And who will go home and say that he 
rejected all the benefits of this bill, because molasses has been sub- 
jected to the enormous additional duty of five cents per gallon ? I 
call, therefore, upon the friends of the American policy, to yield 
somewhat of their own peculiar wishes, and not to reject the practi- 
cable in the idle pursuit after the unattainable. Let us imitate the 
illustrious example of the framers of the constitution, and, always 
remembering that whatever springs from man partakes of his imper- 
fections, depend upon experience to suggest, in future, the necessary 
amendments. 

We have had great difficulties to encounter. — 1. The splendid tal- 
ents which are arrayed in this House against us. 2. We are opposed 
by the rich and powerful in the land. 3. The executive govern- 
ment, if any, affords us but a cold and equivocal support. 4. The 
importing and navigating interest, I verily believe from misconcep- 
tion, are adverse to us. 5. The British factors and the British influ- 
ence axe inimical to our success. 6. Long established habits and 
prejudices oppose us. 7. The reviewers and literary speculators, 



SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY- 

foreign and domestic And, lastly, the leading presses of the coua 
try, including the influence of that which is established in this city, 
and sustained by the public purse. 

From some of these, or other causes, the bill may be postponed, 
thwarted, defeated. But the cause is the cause of the country, and 
it must and will prevail. It is founded in the interests and affections 
of the people. It is as native as the granite deeply imbosomed in our 
mountains. And, in conclusion, I would pray God, in His infinite 
mercy, to avert from our country the evils which are impending over 
it, and, by enlightening our councils, to conduct us into that path 
which leads to richer, to greatness, to glory. 






ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 

In thk Halt, of the House of Representatives, Jan. 20, 1827 
BEFORE THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 



I cannot withhold the expression of my congratulations to the. 
society on account of the very valuable acquisition which we have 
obtained in the eloquent gentleman from Boston, (Mr. Knapp,) who 
has just favored us with an address. He has told us of his original 
impressions, unfavorable to the object of the society, and of his sub- 
sequent conversion. If the same industry, investigation and unbiased 
judgment, which he and another gentleman, (Mr. Powell,) who 
avowed at the last meeting of the society, a similar change wrought 
in his mind, were carried, by the public at large, into the considera- 
tion of the plan of the society, the conviction of its utility would be 
universal. 

I have risen to submit a resolution, in behalf of which I would be- 
speak the favor of the society. But before I ofTer any observations 
in its support, I must say that, whatever part I shall take in the 
proceedings of this society, whatever opinions or sentiments I may 
utter, they are exclusively my own. Whether they are worth 
anything or not, no one but myself is at all responsible for them. _ I 
have consulted with no person out of this society ; and I have espe- 
cially abstained from all communication or consultation with any one 
to whom I stand in any official relation. My judgment on the object 
of this society has been long since deliberately formed. The conclu- 
sions to which, after much and anxious consideration, my mind has 



268 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAY. 

been brought, have been neither produced nor refuted by the official 
station, the duties of which have been confided to me. 

From the origin of this society, every member of it has, I believe, 
looked forward to the arrival of a period, when it would be necessary 
to invoke the public aid in the execution of the great scheme which 
it was instituted to promote. Considering itself as the mere pioneer 
in the cause which it had undertaken, it was well aware that it-could 
do no more than remove preliminary difficulties, and point out a sure 
road to ultimate success ; and that the public only could supply that 
regular, steady, and efficient support, to which the gratuitous means 
of benevolent individuals would be found incompetent. My surprise 
has been that the society has been able so long to sustain itself, and 
to do so much upon the charitable contributions of good, and pious, 
and enlightened men, whom it has happily found in all parts of our 
country. But our work has so prospered, and grown under our 
hands, that the appeal to the power and resources of the public should 
be no longer deferred, The resolution which I have risen to propose 
contemplates this appeal. It is in the following words : 

" Resolved, That the board oi' managers be empowered and directed, at such time 
cr times as may seem to them expedient, to make respectful application to the Con- 
gress of the United States, and to the legislatures of the different States, for such 
pecuniary aid, in furtherance of the object of this society, as they may respectively 
be pleased to grant." 

In soliciting the countenance and support of the legislatures of the 
Union and the States, it is incumbent on the society, in making out 
its case, to show, first — that it offers to their consideration a scheme 
which is practicable — and second — that the execution of the practi- 
cable scheme, partial or entire, will be fraught with such beneficial 
consequences as to merit the support which is solicited. I believe 
both points to be maintainable. First. It is now little upwards of 
ten years since a religious, amiable, and benevolent resident* of this 

*It has been, since the delivery of the Speech, suggested, that the Rev. Robert 
Finley, of New Jersey, (who is also unfortunately dead,) contemplated the forma- 
tion of a society, with the view to the establishment of a colony in Africa, and 
probably first commenced the project. It is quite likely that he did ; and Mr. Clay 
recollects seeing Mr. Finley, and consulting with him on the subject, about the 
period of the formation of the society. But the allusion to Mr. Caldwell was founded 
on the facts well known to Mr. Clay, of his active agency in the organization of the 
society, and his unremitted subsequent labors, which were not confined to the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, in promoting the cause. 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 26'J 

city first conceived the idea of planting a colony, from the United 
States, of free people of color, on the western shores of Africa. He 
is no more ; and the noblest eulogy which could be pronounced on 
him would be to inscribe on his tomb the merited epitaph — " Here 
lies the projector of the American Colonization Society." Amongst 
others, to whom he communicated the project, was the person who 
now has the honor of addressing you. My first impressions, like 
those of all who have not fully investigated the subject, were against 
it. They yielded to his earnest persuasions and my own reflection.-;. 
and I finally agreed with him that the experiment was worthy of a 
fair trial. A meeting of its friends was called — organized as a delib- 
erative body, and a constitution was formed. The society went into 
operation. He lived to see the most encouraging progress in its ex- 
ertions, and died in full confidence of its complete success. The so- 
ciety was scarcely formed before it was exposed to the derision of the 
unthinking ; pronounced to be visionary and chimerical by those who 
were capable of adopting wiser opinions, and the most confident pre- 
dictions of its entire failure were put forth. It found itself equally 
assailed by the two extremes of public sentiment in regard to our Af- 
rican population^ According to one, (that rash class which, without 
a due estimate of the fatal consequence, would forthwith issue a de- 
cree of general, immediate, and indiscriminate emancipation,) it was 
a scheme of the slave-holder to perpetuate slavery. The other (that 
class which believes slavery a blessing, and which trembles with 
aspen sensibility at the appearance of the most distant an d ideal dan- 
ger to the tenure by which that description of property is held) de- 
clared it a contrivance to let loose on society all the slaves of the 
country, ignorant, uneducated, and incapable of appreciating the 
value, or enjoying the privileges of freedom.* The Society saw itself 
surrounded by every sort of embarrassment. What great human en- 
terprise was ever undertaken without difficulty ? What ever failed, 
within the compass of human power, when pursued with persever- 
ance and blessed by the smiles of Providence ? The Society prose- 
cuted undismayed its great work, appealing for succor to the moder- 
erate, the reasonable, the virtuous, and religious portions of the pub- 
lic. It protested from the commencement, and throughout all its 
progress, and it now protests, that it entertains no purpose, on its 

*A Society of a few individuals, without power, without other resources iliam 
those which are supplied by ^porrtaneoue benevolence, to emancipate all the slave* 
•1' ti»« country ! 59 



270 SPEECHES OF HENF.Y CLAY. 

own authority or by its own means, to attempt emancipation, partial 
or general ; that it knows the general government has no constitu- 
tional power to achieve such an object ; that it believes that the 
States, and the States only, which tolerate slavery, can accomplish 
the work of emancipation ; and that it ought to be left to them, ex- 
clusively, absolutely, and voluntarily, to decide the question. 

The object of the Society was the colonization of the free colored 
people, not the slaves, of the country. Voluntary in its institution, 
voluntary in its continuance, voluntary in all its ramifications, all its 
means, purposes, and instruments are also voluntary. But it was 
said that no free colored persons could be prevailed upon to abandon 
the comforts of civilized life, and expose themselves to all the perils 
of a settlement in a distant, inhospitable, and savage country ; that, 
if they could be induced to go on such a quixotic expedition, no ter- 
ritory could be procured for their establishment as a colony ; that the 
plan was altogether incompetent to effectuate its professed object j 
and that it ought to be rejected as the idle dream of visionary enthu- 
siasts. The Society has outlived, thank God, all these disastrous 
predictions. It has survived to swell the list of false prophets. It is 
no longer a question of speculation whether a colony can or cannot 
be planted from the United States of free persons of color on the 
shores of Africa. It is a matter demonstrated ; such a colony, in 
fact, exists, prospers, has made successful war, and honorable peace, 
and transacts all the multiplied business of a civilized and Christian 
community. It now has about five hundred souls, disciplined troops, 
forts, and other means of defence, sovereignty over an extensive ter- 
ritoiy, and exerts a powerful and salutary influence over the neigh- 
boring clans. 

Numbers of the free African race among us are willing to go to 
Africa. The Society has never experienced any difficulty on that 
subject, except that its means of comfortable transportation have been 
inadequate to accommodate all who have been anxious to migrate. 
Why should they not go ? Here they are in the lowest state of 
social gradation — aliens — political — moral — social aliens, strangers, 
though natives. There, they would be in the midst of their friends 
and their kindred, at home, though born in a foreign land, and ele- 
vated above the natives of the country, as much as they are degraded 
here below the other classes of the community. But on this matter, 



ON APRICAN COLONIZATION. 271 

I am happy to have it in my power to furnish indisputable evidence 
from the most authentic source, that of large numbers of free persons 
of color themselves. Numerous meetings have been held in several 
churches in Baltimore, of the free people of color, in which, after be- 
ing organized as deliberative assemblies, by the appointment of a 
chairman (if not of the same complexion) presiding as you, Mr. Vice 
President, do, and secretaries, they have voted memorials addressed 
to the white people, in which they have argued the question with an 
ability, moderation, and temper, surpassing anything I can command, 
and emphatically recommended the colony of Liberia to favorable 
consideration, as the most desirable and practicable scheme ever yet 
presented on this interesting subject. I ask permission of the So- 
ciety to read this highly creditable document. 

" The system of government established with the full consent of the colonists, in 
the autumn of 1824, and which the managers had the happiness to represent in their 
jast report, as having thus far fulfilled all the purposes of its institution, has continued 
its operations during the year without the least irregularity, and with undiminished 
success. The republican principle is introduced as far as is consistent with the 
youthful and unformed character of the settlement, and in the election of their offi- 
cers the colonists have evinced such integrity and judgment as afford promise of 
early preparation for all the duties of self-government. ' The civil prerogatives and 
government of the colony, and the body of the laws by which they are sustained,' 
says the colonial agent, ' are the pride of all. I am happy in the persuasion I have, 
that T hold the balance of the laws in the midst of a people, with whom the first per- 
ceptible inclination of the sacred scale determines authoritatively their sentiments 
and their conduct. There are individual exceptions, but these remarks extend to 
the body of the settlers.' 

" The moral and religious character of the colony, exerts a powerful influence on 
its social and civil condition. That piety which had guided most of the early emi- 
grants to Liberia, even before they left this country, to respectability and usefulness 
among their associates, prepared them, in laying the foundation of a colony, to act 
with a degree of wisdom and energy which no earthlv motives could inspire. Hum- 
ble, and for the most part unlettered men ; bora and "bred in circumstances the most 
unfavorable to mental culture ; unsustained by the hope of renown, and unfamiliar 
with the history of great achievements and heroic virtues, theirs was nevertheless 
a spirit unmoved by dangers or by sufferings, which misfortunes could not darken, 
nor death dismay. They left America, and felt that it was for ever: they landed in 
Africa, possibly to find a home., but certainly a grave. Strange would it have been 
had the religion of every individual of these early settlers proved genuine • but im- 
mensely changed as have been their circumstances, and severely tried their faith 
most have preserved untarnished the honors of their profession, and to the purity of' 
their morals and the consistency of their conduct, is in a great measure to be attrib- 
uted the social order and general prosperity of the colonv of Liberia. Their exam- 
ple has proved most salutary; and while" subsequent emigrants have found them- 
selves awed and restrained, by their regularity, seriousness, and devotion, the poor 
natives have given their confidence, and acknowledged the excellence of practical 
Christianity. ' It deserves record,' says Mr. Ashmun, ' that religion has been the 
principal agent employed in laying and confirming the foundations of the settlement. 
To tins sentiment, ruling, restraining, and actuating the minds of a large proportion 
of the colonists, must be referred the whole strength of our civil government.' Ex- 
amples of intemperance, profaneness, or licentiousness, are extremely rare, and vice 
wherever it, exists, is obliged to seek concealment from the public eye. The Sab- 
bath is universally respected ; Sunday schools, both for the children of the colony 
and for the natives, arc established ; all classes attend regularly upon the worship 
of Uod ; some charitable associations have been formed for the beneiit of the he&- 



272 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAT. 

then ; and though it must not be concealed, that the deep concern on the subject 
of religion, which resulted, towards the conclusion of the year 1826, in the public 
profession of Christianity by about fifty colonists, has in a measure subsided, and 
some few cases of delinquency since occurred ; and though there are faults growing 
out of the early condition and habits of the settlers which require amendment ; yet 
the managers nave reason to believe, that there is a vast and increasing preponder- 
ance on the side of correct principle and virtuous practice. 

" The agriculture of the colony has received less attention than its importance 
demands. This is to be attributed to the fact, that the labor of the settlers has been 
applied to objects conducing more immediately to their subsistence and comfort. 

" It will not, the board trust, be concluded that, because more might have been 
done for the agricultural interests of the colony ; what has been effected is inconsid- 
erable. Two hundred and twenty-four plantations, of from five to ten acres each, 
were, in June last, occupied by the settlers, and most of them are believed to be at 
present under cultivation. One hundred nnd fourteen of these are on cape Montse- 
rado, thirty-three on Stockton creek, (denominated the half-way farms, because 
nearly equi-distant from Monrovia and Caldwell, the St. Paul's settlement.) and 
seventy-seven at the confluence of Stockton creek with the St. Paul's. 

''The St. Paul's territory includes the half-way farms, and is represented as a 
beautiful tract of country, comparatively open, well watered and fertile, and still 
further recommended as "having been, for ages, selected by the natives on account 
of its productiveness for their rice and cassada plantations. The agricultural habits 
of the present occupants of this tract concur with the advantages of their situation, 
in affording promise of success to their exertions. ' Nothing,' says the colonial 
agent, ' but circumstances of the most extraordinaiy nature, can prevent them from 
making their way directly to respectability and abundance.' 

" Oxen were trained to labor in the colony in 1825, and it was then expected that 
the plough would be introduced in the course of another year. Although commerce 
hns thus far taken the lead of agriculture, yet the excellence of the soil, the small 
amount of labor required for its cultivation, and the value and abundance of its pro- 
ducts, cannot fail, finally, to render the latter the more cherished, as it is, certainly, 
the more important interest of the colony. 

"The trade of Liberia has increased with a rapidity almost unexampled, and 
while it has supplied the colonists not only with the necessaries, but with the con- 
veniences and comforts of life, the good faith with which it has been conducted, 
has conciliated the friendship of the natives, and acquired the confidence of for- 
eigners. 

" The regulations of the colony allowing no credits, except by a written permis- 
sion, and requiring the barter to be carried on through factories established for the 
purpose, has increased the profits of the traffic, and prevented numerous evils which 
must have attended upon a more unrestricted license. 

" Between the first of January and the fifteenth of July, 182C, no less than fif- 
teen vessels touched at Monrovia and purchased the produce of the country, to the 
amount, according to the best probable estimate, of forty-three thousand nine hun- 
dred and eighty dollars, African value. The exporters of this produce realize, on th« 
sale of the goods given in barter for it, a profit of twenty-one thousand nine hun- 
dred and ninety dollars, and on the freight, of eight thousand seven hundred and 
eighty-six dollars, making a total profit of thirty thousand seven hundred and eighty- 
pix dollars. 

" A gentleman in Portland has commenced a regular trade with the colony ; and 
for his last cargo knded in Liberia, amounting to eight thousand dollars, he re- 
ceived payment in the course of ten days. The advantages of this trade to the 
colony are manifest from the high price of labor, (that of mechanics being two dol- 
lars per day, and that of common laborers from seventy-five cents to one dollar and 
twenty-five cente,) and from the easy and comfortable circumstance* of the settlers 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION 2T1 

'An industrious family, twelve months in Africa, destitute of the niean3 of furnish- 
ing an abundant table, is not known ; and an individual, of whatever age or sex, 
without ample provision of decent apparel, cannot, it is believed, be found.' ' Every 
family,' says Mr. Ashmun, ' and nearly every single adult person in the colony, ha* 
the means of employing from one to four native laborers, at an expense of from four 
to six dollars the month ; and several of the settlers, when called upon in conse- 
quence of sudden emergencies of the public service, have made repeated advances 
of merchantable produce, to the amount of three hundred to six hundred dollars 
each. 

"The managers are happy to state, that the efforts of the colonial agent lo en- 
large the territory of Liberia, and particularly to bring under the government of the 
colony a more extended line of coast, have been judicious and energetic, and in 
nearly every instance resulted in complete success. From Gape Mount to Trade- 
town, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, the colonial government has ac- 
quired partial jurisdiction. Four of the most important Stations on this tract, in- 
cluding Montserado, belong to the Society, either by actual purchase, or by a deed 
of perpetual lease ; and such negotiations have been entered upon with the chiefs 
of the country, as amount to a preclusion of all Europeans from any possessions 
within these limits. The line territory of the St. Paul's now occupied by settlers, 
was described in the last Annual Report of the Society. 

" The territory of Young Sesters, recently ceded to the Society, is ninety miles 
south of Mont-seiado, in the midst of a very productive rice country, affording also 
large quantities of palm oil, camwood, and ivory. The tract granted to the colony, 
includes the bed of the Sester's river, and all the land on each side, to the distance 
of half a league, and extending longitudinally from the river's mouth to its source. 
In compliance with the term3 of the contract, the chief of the country has construct- 
ed a commodious store-house, and put a number of laborers, suflicient for the culti- 
vation of a rice plantation of forty acres, under the direction of a respectable colo- 
nist, who takes charge of the establishment. 

" The right of use and occupancy has also been obtained to a region of country 
on the south branch of the St. John's river, north nine miles from Young Sesters, 
and the trading factory established there, under the superintendence of a family 
from Monrovia, has already provided a valuable source, of income to the colony. 
Rice is also here to be cultivated, and the chief who cedes the territory agrees to 
furnish the labor. 

" The upright and exemplary conduct of the individual at the head of this estab- 
lishment, has powerfully impressed the natives with the importance of inviting them 
to settle in their country ; and consequently, the offer made by the colonial agent, 
for the purchase of Factory Island, has been accepted by its proprietor. This island 
is in the river St. John's, four miles from its mouth, from five to six miles in 
length, and one-third of a mile in breadth, and is among the most beautiful 
and fertile spots in Africa. A few families are about to take up their residence 
upon it. and prepare for founding a settlement, ' which cannot fail,' says Mr. Ash- 
mun, ' in a few years, to be second to no other in the colony, except Monrovia.' 

" Negotiations are also in progress with the chiefs of Cape Mount, which, if suc- 
cessful, will secure to the colony the whole trade of that station, estimated at fifty 
thousand dollars per annum, and may ultimately lead to its annexation to the terri- 
tories of Liberia. ' The whole country between Cape Mount and Tradetown,' ob- 
aerves Mr. Ashmun, ' is rich in soil and other natural advantages, and capable of 
sustaining a numerous and civilized population beyond almost any other country on 
earth. Leaving the seaboard, the traveller, everywhere, at the distance of a very 
few miles, enters upon a uniform upland country, of moderate elevation, intersected 
by innumerable rivulets, abounding in springs of unfailing water, and covered with 
a verdure which knows no other changes except those which refresh and renew Us 
beauties. The country directly on the sea, although verdant and fruitful to a high 
degree, is found everywhere to yield, in both respects, to the interior.' 

" Much progress has been made the last year, in the construction of public build- 
ings and works of defence, though, with adequate supplies of lumber, more might 
doubtless have been accomplished. Two handsome churches, erected solely by the 
colonists, now adorn the village of Monrovia Fort Stockton has been relnmt m a 



274 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

style of strength and beauty. A receptacle capable of accommodating one hundred 
and fifty emigrants, is completed. The new agency house, market house, Lancas- 
terian school, and town house, in Monrovia, were, some months since, far advanc- 
ed, and the finishing strokes were about to be given to the government house on the 
St. Paul's. The wing of the oid agency house has been ' handsomely fitted up for 
the colonial library, which now consists of twelve hundred volumes systematically 
arranged in glazed cases with appropriate hangings. All the books are substan- 
tially covered, and accurately labelled ; and files of more than ten newspapers, 
more or less complete, are preserved. The library is fitted up so as to answer the 
purpose of a reading-room, and it is intended to make it a museum of all the natu- 
ral curiosities of Africa, which can be procured.' 

" No efforts have been spared to place the colony in a state of adequate defence, 
and while it is regarded as perfectly secure from the native forces, it is hoped ana 
believed that it may sustain itself against any piratical assaults. ' The establish- 
ment has fifteen large carriage guns and three small pivot guns, all jit for service/ 
Fort Stockton overlooks the whole town of Monrovia, and a strong battery is now 
building on the height of Thompson Town, near the extremity of the Cape, which 
it is thought will afford protection to vessels anchoring in the roadstead. The mili- 
tia of the colony consists of two corps appropriately uniformed, one of artillery of 
about fifty men, the other of infantry of forty men, and on various occasions 
have they proved themselves deficient neither in discipline nor courage." 

The Society has experienced no difficulty in the acquisition of a 
territory, upon reasonable terms, abundantly sufficient for a most ex- 
tensive colony. And land in ample quantities, it has been ascertained, 
can be procured in Africa, together with all rights of sovereignty, upon 
conditions as favorable as those on -which the United States extin- 
guish the Indian title to territory within their own limits. 

In respect to the alleged incompetency of the scheme to accom- 
plish its professed object, the society asks that that object should be 
taken to be, not what the imaginations of its enemies represent it to 
be, but what it really proposes. They represent that the purpose of 
the society is to export the whole African population of the United 
States, bond and free ; and they pronounce this design to be unattain- 
able. They declare that the means of the whole country are insuf- 
ficient to effect the transportation to Africa of a mass of population 
approximating to two millions of souls. Agreed ; but that is not 
what the society contemplates. They have substituted their own 
motion tor that of the society. What is the true nature of the evil 
of the existence of a portion of the African race in our population ? 
It is not that there are some, but that there are so many among us of 
a different caste, of a different physical, if not moral, constitution, who 
never can amalgamate with the great body of our population. In 
every country, persons are to be found varying in their color, origin, 
and character, from the native mass. But this anomaly creates no 
inquietude or apprehension, because the exotics, from the smallness 
of their number, are known to be utterly incapable of disturbing the 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 275 

general tranquillity. Here, on the contrary, the African part of our 
population bears so large a proportion to the residue, of European 
origin, as to create the most lively apprehension, especially in some 
quarters of the Union. Any project, therefore, by which, in a mate- 
rial degree, the dangerous element in the general mass can be dimin- 
ished or rendered stationary, deserves deliberate consideration. 

The Colonization Society has never imagined it to be practicable, or 
within the reach of any means which the several governments of the 
Union could bring to bear on the subject, to transpoit the whole of 
the African race within the limits of the United States. Nor is that 
necessary to accomplish the desirable object of domestic tranquillity, 
ami render us one homogeneous people. The population of the United 
States has been supposed to duplicate in periods of twenty -five years. 
That may have been the case heretofore, but the terms of duplication 
will be more and more protracted as we advance in national age ; and 
I do not believe that it will be found, in any period to come, that our 
numbers will be doubled in a less term than one of about thirty-three 
and a third years. 1 have not time to enter now into details in sup- 
port of this opinion. They would consist of those checks which ex- 
perience has shown to obstruct the progress of population, arising 
out of its actual augmentation and density, the settlement of waste 
lands, &c Assuming the period of thirty-three and a third, or any 
other number of years, to be that in which our population will here- 
after be doubled, if during that whole term the capital of the African 
stock could be kept down, or stationary, whilst that of European 
origin should be left to an unobstructed increase, the result, at the 
end of the term, would be most propitious. Let us suppose, for ex- 
ample, that the whole population at present of the United States is 
twelve millions, of which ten may be estimated of the Anglo-Saxon, 
and two of the African race. If there could be annually transported 
from the United States an amount of the African portion equal to the 
annual increase of the whole of that caste, whilst the European race 
should be left to multiply, we should find at the termination of the 
period of duplication, whatever it may be, that the relative propor- 
tions would be as twenty to two. And if the process were continued, 
during a second term of duplication, the proportion would be as forty 
to two — one which would eradicate every cause of alarm of swlichude 
from the breasts of the most timid. But the transportation of Africans, 
by creating, to the extent to which it might Be carried, a vacuum ia 



27(5 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAT- 

society, -would tend to accelerate the duplication of the European 
race, who, by all the laws of population, would fill up the void space 

This Society is well aware, I repeat, that they cannot touch the 
subject of slavery, But it is no objection to their scheme, limited as 
it is exclusively to those free people of color who are willing to mi- 
grate, that it admits of indefinite extension and application, by those, 
who alone, having the competent authority, may choose to adopt and 
apply it. Our object has been to point out the way, to show that co- 
lonization is practicable, and to leave it to those States or individuals, 
who may be pleased to engage in the object, to prosecute it. We have 
demonstrated that a colony may be planted in Africa, by the fact that 
an American colony there exists. The problem which has so long and 
so deeply interested the thoughts of good and patriotic men is solved. 
A country and a home have been found, to -which the African race 
may be sent, to the promotion of their happiness and our own. 

But, Mr. Vice-President, 1 shall not rest contented with the fact of 
the establishment of the colony, conclusive as it ought to be deemed, 
of the practicability of our purpose. I shall proceed to show , by refer- 
ence to indisputable statistical details and calculations, that it is with- 
in the compass of reasonable human means. I am sensible of the 
tediousness of all arithmetical data, but I will endeavor to simplify 
them as much as possible. It will be borne in mind that the aim of 
the Society is to establish in Africa a colony of the free African popu- 
lation of the United States, to an extent which shall be beneficial both 
to Africa and America. The whole free colored population of the 
United States amounted in 1790, to fifty-nine thousand four hundred 
and eighty-one ; in 1800, to one hundred and ten thousand and seven- 
ty-two ; in 1810, to one hundred and eighty-six thousand four hun- 
dred and forty-six ; and in 1820, to two hundred and thirty-three 
thousand five hundred and thirty. The ratio of annual increase dur- 
ing the first term of ten years was about eight and a half per cent, 
per annum ; during the second about seven per cent, per annum ; and 
during the third, a little more than two and a half. The very great 
difference in the rate of annual increase, during those several terms, 
may probably be accounted for by the effect of the number of volun- 
tary emancipations operating with more influence upon the total 
smaller amount of free colored persons at the first of those periods, 
and by the facts of the insurrection in St. Domingo, and the acquis*- 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION 277 

tion of Louisiana, both of which, occurring during the first and sec- 
ond terms, added considerably to the number of our free colored 
population. 

Of all descriptions of our population, that of the free colored, taken 
in the aggregate, is the least prolific, because of the checks arising 
from vice and want. During the ten years between 1810 and 1820, 
when no extraneous causes existed to prevent a fair competition in 
the increase between the slave and the free African race, the former 
increased at the rate of nearly three per cent, per annum, whilst the 
latter did not much exceed two and a half. Hereafter it may be 
safely assumed, and I venture to predict will not be contradicted 
by the return of the next census, that the increase of the free black 
population will not surpass two and a half per cent, per annum 
Their amount at the last census, being two hunched and thirty-three 
thousand live hundred and thirty, for the sake of round numbers, their 
annual increase may be assumed to be six thousand at the present 
time. Now if this number could be annually transported from the 
United States during a term of years, it is evident that, at the end of 
that term, the parent capital will not have increased, but will have 
been kept down, at least to what it was at the commencement of the 
term. Is it practicable, then, to colonize annually six thousand per- 
sons from the United States, without materially impairing or affect- 
ing any of the great interests of the United States ? This is the 
question presented to the judgments of the legislative authorities of 
our country. This is the whole scheme of the society. From its 
actual experience, derived from the expenses which have been in- 
curred in transporting the persons already sent to Africa, the entire 
average expense of each colonist, young and old, including passage 
money and subsistence, may be stated at twenty dollars per head. 
There is reason to believe that it may be reduced considerably below 
that sum. Estimating that to be the expense, the total cost of trans- 
porting six thousand souls annually to Africa would be one hundred 
and tweny thousand dollars. The tonnage requisite to effect the ob- 
ject, calculating two persons to every five tons, (which is the provis- 
ion of existing law,) would be fifteen thousand tons. But, as each 
vessel could probably make two voyages in the year, it may be re- 
duced to seven thousand five hundred. And as both our mercantile 
and military marine might be occasionally employed on this collateral 
service, without injury to the main object of the voyage, a further 

60 



SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

abatement might be safely made in the aggregate amount of the neces- 
sary tonnage. The navigation concerned in the commerce between 
the colony and the United States, (and it already begins to supply 
subjects of an interesting trade,) might be incidentally employed to 
the same end. 

Is the annual expenditure of a sum no larger than one hundred and 
twenty thousand dollars, and the annual employment of seven thou- 
sand five hundred tons of shipping, too much for reasonable exertion, 
considering the magnitude of the object in view ? Are they not, on 
the contrary, within the compass of moderate efforts ? 

Here is the whole scheme of the Society — a project which has 
been pronounced visionary by those who have never given them- 
selves the trouble to examine it, but to which I believe most unbias- 
ed men will yield their cordiai assent, after they have investigated it. 

Limited as the project is, by the society, to a colony to be formed 
by the free and unconstrained consent of free persons of color, it is no 
objection, but, on the contrary, a great recommendation of the plan, 
that it admits of being taken up and applied on a scale of much more 
comprehensive utility. The society knows, and it affords just cause 
of felicitation, that all or anyone of the States which tolerate slavery, 
may carry the scheme of colonization into effect, in regard to the 
slaves within their respective limits, and thus ultimately rid them- 
selves of a universally acknowledged curse. A reference to the re- 
sults of the several enumerations of the population of the United 
States will incontestably prove the practicability of its application on 
the more extensive scale. The slave population of the United States 
amounted in 1790, to six hundred and ninety-seven thousand six 
hundred and ninety-seven ; in 1800, to eight hundred and ninety-six 
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine; in 1810, to eleven hundred 
and ninety-one thousand three hundred and sixty-four ; and in 1820, 
to fifteen hundred and thirty-eight thousand one hundred and twenty- 
eight. The rate of annual increase, (rejecting fractions, and taking 
t^e integer to which they make the nearest approach,) during the 
first teril? °f ten years, was not quite three per centum per annum, 
during the secv? u< ^ a l^fe more than three per centum per annum, 
and durin°- the thiru' a ^ttle ^ ess than three per centum. The mean 
ratio of increase for the ^bole period of thirty years was very little 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 279 

more than three per centum per annum. During the first two peri 
ods, the native stock v/as augmented by importations from Africa, in 
those States which continued to tolerate them, and by the acquisition 
of Louisiana. Virginia, to her eternal honoi, abolished the abomi- 
nable traffic among the earliest acts of her self-government. The last 
term alone presents the natural increase of the capital, unaffected by 
any extraneous causes. That authorizes, as a safe assumption, that 
the future increase will not exceed three per centum per annum. As 
our population increases, the value of slave labor will diminish, in con- 
sequence of the superior advantages in the employment of free labor. 
And when the value of slave labor shall be materially lessened, either 
by the multiplication of the supply of slaves beyond the demand, or 
by the competition between slave and free labor, the annual increase 
of slaves will be reduced, in consequence of the abatement of the 
motives to provide for and rear the offspring. 

Assuming the future increase to be at the rate of three per centum 
per annum, the annual addition to the number of slaves in the United 
States, calculated upon the return of the last census (one million five 
hundred and thirty-eight thousand one hundred and twenty-eight) is 
forty-six thousand. Applying the data which have been already sta- 
ted and explained, in relation to the. colonizatian of free persons of 
color from the United States to Africa, to the aggregate annual in- 
crease, both bond and free, of the African race, and the result will be 
found most encouraging. The total number of the annual increase 
of both descriptions is fifty-two thousand. The total expense of 
transporting that number to Africa, supposing no reduction of present 
prices, would be one million and forty thousand dollars, and the re- 
quisite amount of tonnage would be only one hundred and thirty 
thousand tons of shipping, about one-ninth part of the mercantile 
marine of the United States. Upon the supposition of a vessel's 
making two voyages in the year, it would be reduced to one-half, 
sixty-five thousand. And this quantity would be still further reduc- 
ed, by embracing opportunities of incidental employment of vessels 
belonging both to the mercantile and military marines. 

But is the annual application of one million and forty thousand 
dollars, and the employment of sixty-five or even one hundred and 
thirty thousand tons of shipping, considering the magnitude of the 
object, beyond the ability of this country : Is there a patriot look- 



380 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

ing forward to its domestic quiet, its happiness, and its glory, that 
would not cheerfully contribute his proportion of the burden to ac- 
complish a purpose so great and so humane ? During the general 
continuance of the African slave trade, hundreds of thousands of 
slaves have been, in a single year, imported into the several countries 
whose laws authorized their admission. Notwithstanding the vigi- 
lance of the powers now engaged to suppress the slave trade, I have 
received information, that in a single year, in the single island of Cu- 
ba, slaves equal in amount to one half of the above number of fifty- 
two thousand, have been illicitly introduced. Is it possible that those 
who are concerned in an infamous traffic can effect more than the 
States of this Union, if they were seriously to engage in the good 
work ? Is it credible — is it not a libel upon human nature to suppose, 
that the triumphs of fraud, and violence, and iniquity, can surpass 
those of virtue, and benevolence, and humanity ? 

The population of the United States being, at this time, estimated 
at about ten millions of the European race, and two of the African, 
on the supposition of the annual colonization of a number of the lat- 
ter equal to the annual increase of both of its classes during the 
whole period necessary to the process of duplication of our numbers, 
they would, at the end of that period, relatively stand twenty millions 
for the white, and two for the black portion. But an annual expor- 
tation of a number equal to the annual increase, at the beginning of 
the term, and persevered in to the end of it, would accomplish more 
than to keep the parent stock stationary. The colonists would com- 
prehend more than an equal proportion of those of the prolific ages. 
Few of those who had passed that age would migrate. So that the 
annual increase of those left behind, would continue gradually, but, 
at first, insensibly, to diminish ; and by the expiration of the period 
of duplication, it would be found to have materially abated. But it is 
not merely the greater relative safety and happiness which would, at 
the termination of that period, be the condition of the whites. Their 
ability to give further stimulus to the cause of colonization will have 
been doubled, whilst the subjects on which it would have to operate 
will have decreased or remained stationary. If the business of colo- 
nization should be regularly continued during two periods of duplica- 
tion, at the end of the second, the whites would stand to the blacks, 
as forty millions to not more than two, whilst the same ability will 
have been quadrupled. Even if colonization should then altogether 



•N AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 881 

cease, the proportion of the African to the European race will be so 
small that the most timid may then for ever dismiss all ideas of 
danger from within or without, on account of that incongruous and 
perilous element in our population. 

Further ; by the annual \\ ithdrawal of fifty -two thousand persons 
of color, there would be annual space created for an equal number of 
the white race. The period, therefore, of the duplication of the 
whites, by the laws which govern population, would be accelerated. 

Such, Mr. Vice-President, is the project of the Society ; and such is 
the extension and use which may be made of the principle of coloni- 
zation, in application to our slave population, by those States which 
are alone competent to undertake and execute it. All, or any one 
of the States which tolerate slavery may adopt and execute it, by 
co-operation or separate, exertion. If I could be instrumental in 
eradicating this deepest stain upon the character of our country, and 
removing all cause of reproach on account of it, by foreign nations — 
If I could only be instrumental in ridding of this foul blot that rever- 
ed State that gave me birth, or that not less beloved State which 
kindly adopted me as her son, I would not exchange the proud satis- 
faction which I should enjoy for the honor of all the triumphs ever 
decreed to the most successful conqueror. 

Having, I hope, shown that the plan of the Society is not vision- 
ary, but rational and practicable ; that a colony does in fact exist, 
planted under its auspices ; that free people are willing and anxious 
to go ; and that the right of soil as well as of sovereignty may be ac- 
quired in vast tracts of country in Africa, abundantly sufficient for all 
the purposes of the most ample colony, and at prices almost only 
nominal, the task which remains to me of showing the beneficial con- 
sequences which would attend the execution of the scheme, is com- 
paratively easy. 

Of the utility of a total separation of the two incongruous portions 
of our population, supposing it to be practicable, none have ever 
doubted. The mode of accomplishing that most desirable object, has 
alone divided public opinion. Colonization in Hayti for a time had 
its partisans. Withoutthrowing any impediments in the way of exe- 
cuting that scheme, the American Colonization Society has steadily 



28£ 8PEECHES OF HENRlf CLAT. 

adhered to its own. The Hay tie n project has passed away. Colo 
nization beyond the Stony Mountains has sometimes been proposed , 
but it would be attended with an expense and difficulties far surpass- 
ing the African project, whilst it Mould not unite the same animating 
motives. There is a moral fitness in the idea of returning to Africa 
• her children, whose ancestors have been torn from her by the ruth- 
less hand of fraud and violence. Transplanted in a foreign land, they 
will carry back to their native soil the rich fruits of religion, civiliza- 
tion, law, and liberty. May it not be one of the great designs of the 
Ruler of the universe, (whose ways are often inscrutable by short- 
sighted mortals,) thus to transform an original crime into a signal 
blessing, to that most unfortunate portion of the globe. Of all classes 
of our population, the most vicious is that of the free colored. It is 
the inevitable result of their moral, political, and civil degradation 
Contaminated themselves, they extend their vices to all around them, 
to the slaves and to the whiles. If the principle of colonization 
should be confined to them ; if a colony can be firmly established, and 
successfully continued in Africa which should draw off annually an 
amount of that portion of our population equal to its annual increase, 
much good will be done. If the principle be adopted and applied by 
the States, whose laws sanction the existence of slavery to an extent 
equal to the annual increase of slaves, still greater goodwill be done. 
This good will be felt by the Africans who go, by the Africans who 
remain, by the white population of our country, by Africa, and by 
America. It is a project which recommends itself to favor in all the 
aspects in which it can be contemplated. It will do good in every 
and any extent in which it may be executed. It is a circle of phi- 
lanthropy, every segment of which tells and testifies to the benefi- 
cence of the whole. 

Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with him cre- 
dentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free institu- 
tions. Why is it that the degree of success of missionary exertions 
is so limited, and so discouraging to those whose piety and benevo- 
lence prompt them ? Is it not because the missionary is generally an 
alien and a stranger, perhaps of a different color, and from a different 
tribe ? There is a sort of instinctive feeling of jealousy and distrust 
towards foreigners, which repels and rejects them in all countries ; 
and this feeling is in proportion to the degree of ignorance and barba- 
rism which prevail. But the African colonists, whorr, we send to 



ON AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 



283 



convert the heathen are of the same color, the same family, the same 
physical constitution. When the purposes of the colony shall be fully 
understood, they will be received as lung lost brethren restored to the 
embraces of their friends and their kindred by the dispensations of a 
wise Providence. 

The society is reproached for agitating this question, it should be 
recollected that the existence of free people of color is not limited to 
the States only which tolerate slavery. Tbe evil extends itseif to 
all the States ; and some of those which do not allow of slavery, then- 
cities especially, experience the evil in an extent even greater than it 
exists in the slave States. A common evil confers a right to consider 
and apply a common remedy. Nor is it a valid objection that this 
remedy is portial in its operation or distant in its efficacy. 

A patient, writhing under the tortures of excruciating disease, asks 
of his physician to cure him if he can, and, if he cannot, to mitigate 
his Bufferings". But the remedy proposed, if generally adopted, and 
perseveringly applied, for a sufficient length of time, should it not en- 
tirely eradicate the disease, will enable the body politic to bear it 
without danger and without suffering. 

We are reproached with doing mischief by the agitation of this 
question. The society goes into no household to disturb its domestic 
tranquillity ; it addresses itself to no slaves to weaken their obliga- 
tions of obedience. It seeks to alreet no man's property. It neither 
has the power nor the will to affect the property of any one contrary 
to his consent. The execution of its scheme would augment instead 
of diminishing the value of the property left behind. The society, 
composed of free men, concerns itself only with the free. Collateral 
consequences we are not responsible for. It is not this society which 
has produced the great moral revolution which the age exhibits. 
What would they, who thus reproach us, have done ? If they would 
repress all tendencies towards liberty and ultimate emancipation, they 
must do more than put down the benevolent efforts of this society. 
They must go back to the era of our liberty and independence, and 
muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual joyous return. They 
must revive the slave trade, with all its train of atrocities. They 
must suppress the workings of British philanthropy, seeking to me- 
liorate the condition of the unfortunate West Indian slaves. They 



284 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

must arrest the career of South American deliverance from thraldom. 
They must blow out the moral lights around us, and extinguish that 
greatest torch of all which America presents to a benighted world — 
pointing the way to their rights, their liberties, and their happiness. 
And when they have achieved all these purposes, their work will be 
yet incomplete. They must penetrate the human soul, and eradicate 
the light of reason and the love of liberty. Then, and not till then, 
when universal darkness and despair prevail, can you perpetuate slave- 
ry, and repress all sympathies, and all humane and benevolent efforts 
among freemen, in behalf of the unhappy portion of our race doomed 
to bondage. 

Our friends, who are cursed with this greatest of human evils, 
deserve the kindest attention and consideration. Their property and 
their safety are both involved. But the liberal and candid among 
them Avill not, cannot, expect that every project to deliver our coun- 
try from it is to be crushed because of a possible and ideal danger. 

Animated by the encouragement of the past, let us proceed under 
the cheering prospects which lie before us. Let us continue to ap- 
peal to the pious, the liberal, and the wise. Let us bear in mind the 
condition of our forefathers, when, collected on the beach of England, 
they embarked, amidst the seoffmgs and the false predictions of the 
assembled multitude, for this distant land ; and here, in spite of all the 
perils of forest and ocean, which they encountered, successfully laid 
the foundations of this glorious republic. Undismayed by the prophe- 
cies of the presumptuous, let us supplicate the aid of the American 
representatives of the people, and redoubling our labors, and invoking 
the blessings of an all-wise Providence, I boldly and confidently anti- 
cipate success. I hope the resolution which I offer will be unani- 
mously adopted. 



0N THE CHARGE OF CORRUPTION. 

At Lexington, Kentucky, July 12, 1827. 



TMr. Clay visited Kentucky in 1827, while Secretary of State under Mr. Ad..ms, 
and was received by large gatherings of his former constituents and fellow-citizens, 
who insisted on meeting him around the festive board. At Paris, Bourbon County, 
in Woodford County, and at Lexington, he met and addressed large assemblages 
of the People. At the latter place, the following toast was given : 

" Ottr Distinguished Guest, Henry Cf ay — The furnace of persecution may be 
heated seven times hotter, and seventy times more he will come out unscathed by 
the fire of malignity, brighter to all and dearer to hie friends; while his enemies 
ehall sink with the dross of their own vile materials." 

Mr. Clay, after the above toa:-t had been drunk, addressed the company as 
follows:] 

Mr. President, Friends, and Fellow-Citizens : — I beg permis- 
sion to offer my hearty thanks, and to make my respectful ack- 
nowledgments, for the affectionate reception which has been giv- 
en me during my present visit to my old Congressional District, 
and for this hospitable and honorable testimony of your esteem 
and confidence. And I thank you especially for the friendly 
sentiments and feelings expressed in the toast which you have 
just done me the honor to drink 1 always had the happiness of 
knowing that 1 enjoyed, in a high degree, the attachment of that por- 
tion of my fellow-citizens whom 1 formerly represented ; but I should 
never have been sensible of the strength and ardor of their affection, 
except for the extraordinary character of the times. For near two 
years and a half I have been assailed with ;i rancor and bitterness 
which have few examples- I have found myself the particular ob- 
ject of concerted and concentrated abuse ; and others, thrusting them- 
selves between you and me, have dared to arraign me for treachery 
to your interests. But my former constituents, unaffected bv the 

61 



286 SPEECHES OF HENRV CLAY. 

calumnies which have been so perseveringly circulated to my preju 
dice, have stood by me with a generous confidence and a noble mag- 
nanimity. The measure of their regard and confidence has risen 
with, and even surpassed, that of the malevolence, great as it is, of 
my personal and political foes. I thank you, gentlemen, who are a 
large portion of my late constituents. I thank you, and every one 
of them, with all my heart, for the manly support which 1 have uni- 
formly received. It has cheered and consoled me, amidst all my se- 
vere trials ; and may I not add, that it is honorable to the generous 
hearts and enlightened heads who have resolved to protect the char- 
acter of an old friend and faithful servant ? 

The numerous manifestations of your confidence and attachment 
will be among the latest and most treasured recollections of my life. 
They impose upon me obligations which can never be weakened or 
cancelled. One of these obligations is, that I should embrace every 
fair opportunity to vindicate that character which you have so gen- 
erously sustained, and to evince to you and to the world, that you 
have not yielded to the impulses of a blind and enthusiastic senti- 
ment. I feel that I am, on all fit occasions, especially bound to vin- 
dicate myself to my former constituents. It was as their representa- 
tive, it was in fulfilment of a high trust which they confided to me, 
that I have been accused of violating the most sacred of duties — of 
treating their wishes with contempt, and their interests with treache- 
ry. Nor is this obligation, in my conception of its import, at all 
weakened by the dissolution of the relations which heretofore existed 
between us. I would instantly resign the place I hold in the councils 
of the nation, and directly appeal to the suffrages of my late constitu- 
ents, as a candidate for re-election, if I did know that my foes are of 
that class whom one rising from the dead cannot convince, whom 
nothing can silence, and who wage a war of extermination. On the 
issue of such an appeal, they would redouble their abuse of you and 
of me, for meir hatred is common to us both. 

They have compelled me so often to be the theme of my addresses 
to the people, that I should have willingly abstained, on this festive 
occasion, from any allusion to this subject, but for a new and imposing 
form which the calumny against me has recently assumed. I am 
again put on my defence, not of any new charge, nor by an}- new ad- 
versary ; but of the old charges, clad in a new dress, and exhibited 



ON THE CHARGE OF CORRUPTION. 287 

\ j an open and undisguised enemy. The fictitious names have been 
stricken from the foot of the indictment, and that of a known and 
substantial prosecutor has been voluntarily offered. Undaunted by 
the formidable name of that prosecutor, I will avail myself, with your 
indulgence, of this fit opportunity of free and unreserved intercourse 
with you, as a large number of my late constituents, to make some 
observations on the past and present state of the question. When 
evidence shall be produced, as I have now a clear right to demand, 
in support of the accusation, it will be the proper time for me to take 
such notice of it as its nature shall require. 

In February, 1825, it was my duty, as the representative of this 
district, to vote for some one of the three candidates for the Presi- 
dency, who were returned to the House of Representatives. It has 
been established, and can be further proved, that, before I left this state 
the preceding fall, I communicated to several gentlemen of the highest 
respectability, my fixed determination not to vote for General Jack- 
son. The friends of Mr. Crawford asserted to the last, that the con- 
dition of his health was such as to enable him to administer the du- 
ties of the office. I thought otherwise, after I reached Washington 
city, and visited him to satisfy myself ; and thought that physical im- 
pediment, if there were no other objections, ought to prevent his elec- 
tion. Although the delegations from four States voted for him, and his 
pretensions were zealously pressed to the very last moment, it has 
been of late asserted, and I believe by some of the very persons who 
then warmly espoused his cause, that his incompetency was so pal- 
pable as clearly to limit the choice to two of the three returned can- 
didates. In my view of my duty, there was no alternative but that 
which I embraced. That I had some objections to Mr. Adams, I am 
ready freely to admit ; but these did not weigh a feather in compari- 
son with the greater and insurmountable objections, long and delib- 
erately entertained against his competitor. I take this occasion, with 
great satisfaction, to state, that my objections to Mr. Adams arose 
chiefly from apprehensions which have not been realized. I have 
found him at the head of the government, able, enlightened, patient 
of investigation, and ever ready to receive with respect, and, when 
approved by his judgment, to act upon the counsels of his official ad- 
visers. I add, with unmixed pleasure, that, from the commence- 
ment of the government, with the exception of Mr. Jefferson's ad- 
ministration, no chief magistrate has found the members of his cabi- 



288 SPEECHES OF HENRY CUT. 

Bet so united on all public measures, and so cordial and friendly in 
all their intercourse, private and official, as these are of the present 
President. 

Had I voted for General Jackson, in opposition to the well-known 
opinions which I entertained of him, one-tenth part of the ingenuity 
and zeal which have been employed to excite prejudices against me, 
would have held me up to universal contempt ; and what would have 
been worse, /should have felt that I really deserved it 

Before the election, an attempt was made by an abusive letter, 
published in the Columbian Observer, at Philadelphia, a paper which, 
as has since transpired, was sustained by Mr. Senator Eaton, the col- 
league, the friend, and the biographer of General Jackson, to assail 
my motives, and to deter me in the exercise of my duty. This let- 
ter being avowed by Mr. George Kremer, I instantly demanded from 
the House of Representatives an investigation. A committee was 
accordingly, on the 5th day of February, 1825, appointed in the rare 
mode of balloting by the House, instead of by selection of the Speak- 
er. It was composed of some of the leading members of that body, 
not one of whom was my political friend in the preceding Presiden- 
tial canvass. Although Mr. Kremer, in addressing the House, had 
declared his willingness to bring forward his proofs, and his readiness 
to abide the issue of the inquiry, his fears, or other counsels than his 
own, prevailed upon him to take refuge in a miserable subterfuge. 
Of all possible periods, that was the most fitting to substantiate the 
charge, if it was true. Every circumstance was then fresh ; the wit- 
nesses all living and present; the election not yet complete; and 
therefore the imputed corrupt bargain not fulfilled. All these pow- 
erful considerations had no weight Avith the conspirators and their 
accessaries, and they meanly shrunk from even an attempt to prove 
their charge, for the best of all possible reasons — because, being false 
and fabricated, they could adduce no proof which was not false and 
fabricated. 

During two years and a half, which have now intervened, a por- 
tion of the press devoted to the cause of General Jackson has been 
teeming with the vilest calumnies against me, and the charge, under 
every chameleon form, has been a thousand times repeat ed. Up to 



OK THE CHARGE 01 C0RRUI? HON. 289 

this time, i have in vain invited in\ estimation, and demanded evi 
dence. None, not a particle, lias been adduce I. 

The extraordinary ground has been taken, that the accusers were 
not bound tq establish by proof the guilt of (heir designated victim. 
In a civilized, Christian, and free community, the monstrous principle 
has been assumed, that accusation and conviction arc synonymous ; 
and that the persons who deliberately bring forward an atrocious 
charge are exempted from all obligations to substantiate it ! And the 
pretext is, that the crime, being of a political nature, is shrouded in 
darkness, and incapable of being substantiated. But is there any real 
difference, in this respect, between political and other offences ? Do 
not all the perpetrators of crime endeavor to conceal their guilt and 
to elude detection ? If the accuser of a political offence is absolved 
from the duty of supporting his accusation, every other accuser of 
offence stands equally absolved. Such a principle, practically car- 
ried into society, would subvert all harmony, peace, and tranquillity. 
None — no age, nor sex, nor profession, nor calling, would be safe 
against its baleful and overwhelming influence. It would amount to 
a universal license to universal calumny ! 

No one has ever contended that the proof should be exclusively 
that of eye-witnesses, testifying from their senses positively aP .di- 
rectly to the fact. Political, like other offences, may be est? j/ished 
b}' circumstantial as well as positive evidence. But I do ( ontend, 
that some evidence, be it what it may, ought to be exhibits 4. If 
there be none, how do the accusers know that an offence has been 
perpetrated ? If they do know it, let vis have the Jact on which their 
conviction is based. I will not even assert, that, in public aifairs, a 
citizen has not a right freely to express his opinions of public men, 
and to speculate upon the motives of their conduct. But if he chooses 
to promulgate opinions, let them be given as opinions. The public 
will correctly judge of their value and their grounds. No one has a 
right to put forth a positive assertion, that a political offence has been 
committed, unless he stands prepared to sustain, by satisfactory proof 
of some kind, its actual existence. 

If he who exhibits a charge of political crime is, from its very na- 
ture, disabled to establish it, how much more difficult is the condition 



290 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

of the accused ? How can he exhibit negative proof of his inno- 
cence, if no affirmative proof of his guilt is, or can be adduced t 

It must have been a conviction that the justice of the public re- 
quired a definite charge, by a responsible accuser, that has, at last, 
extorted from General Jackson his letter of the 6th of June, lately 
published. I approach that letter with great reluctance, not on my 
own account, for on that, I do most heartily and sincerely rejoice 
that it has made its appearance. But it is reluctance, excited by the 
feelings of respect which I would anxiously have cultivated towards 
its author. He has, however, by that letter, created such relations 
between us, that, in any language which I may employ, in examin- 
ing its contents, I feel myself bound by no other obligations than those 
which belong to truth, to public decorum, and to myself 

The first consideration which must, on the perusal of the letter, 
force itself upon every reflecting mind, is that which arises out of the 
delicate posture in which Gen. Jackson stands before the American 
public. He is a candidate for the Presidency, avowed and proclaim- 
ed. He has no competitor at present, and there is no probability of 
his having any, but one. The charges which he has allowed him- 
self to be the organ of communicating to the very public who is to 
decide the question of the Presidency, though directly aimed at me, 
necessarily implicate his only competitor. Mr. Adams and myself 
are both guilty, or we are both innocent of the imputed arrangement 
between us. His innocence is absolutely irreconcilable with my guilt. 
If General Jackson, therefore, can establish my guilt, and, by infer- 
ence, or by insinuation, that of his sole rival, he will have removed 
a great obstacle to the consummation of the object of his ambition. 
And if he can, at the same time, make out his own purity of conduct, 
and impress the American people with the belief that his purity and 
integrity alone prevented his success before the House of Representa- 
tives, his claims -will become absolutely irresistible. Were there ever 
more powerful motives to propagate — was there ever greater interest, 
at all hazards, to prove the truth of charges ? 

I state the case, I hope, fairly ; I mean to state it fairly and fear- 
lessly. If the position be one which exposes General Jackson to un- 
favorable suspicions, it must be home in mind that he has voluntarily 
taken it, and he must abide the consequences. I am acting on the 



ON THE CHARGE OF CORRUPTION. 291 

defensive, and it is he who assails me, and who has called forth, by 
the eternal laws of self-protection, the right to use all legitimate 
means of self-defence. 

General Jackson has shown in his letter, that he is not exempt 
from the influence of that bias towards one's own interests, which is 
unfortunately the too common lot of human nature. It is Ma interest 
to make out that he is a person of spotless innocence, and of unsullied 
integrity ; and to establish, by direct charge, or by necessary infer- 
ence, the want of those qualities in his rival. Accordingly, we find, 
throughout the letter, a labored attempt to set forth his own immacu- 
late purity in striking contrast with the corruption which is attributed 
to others. We would imagine from his letter, that he very seldom 
touches a newspaper. The Telegraph is mailed regularly for him at 
Washington, but it arrives at the Hermitage very irregularly. He 
would have the public to infer, that the postmaster at Nashville, 
whose appointment happened not to be upon his recommendation, 
obstructed his reception of it. In consequence of his not receiving 
the Telegraph, he had not on the 6th June, 1827, seen Carter Bever- 
ley's famous Fayetteville letter, dated the 8th of the preceding March, 
published in numerous Gazettes, and published, I have very little 
doubt, although I have not the means of ascertaining the fact, in the 
Gazettes of Nashville. I will not say, contrary to Gen. Jackson's 
assertion, that he had never read that letter, when he wrote that ot 
the 6th of June, but I must think that it is very strange that he should 
not have seen it ; and I doubt whether there is another man of 
any political eminence in the United States who has not read it. 
There is a remarkable coincidence between General Jackson and cer- 
tain editors who espouse his interest, in relation to Mr. Beverley's 
letter They very early took the ground, in respect to it, that I 
ought, under my own signature^ come out and deny the statements. 
And General Jackson now says, in his letter of the 6th of June, that 
he "always intended, should Mr. Clay come out over his own signa- 
ture, and deny having any knowledge of the communication maSc I y 
his friends to my friends and to me, that 1 would give him the name 
of the gentleman through whom that communication dame." 

The distinguished member of Congress who core the alleged over- 
ture, according to General Jackson, presented himself with diplo- 
matic, circumspection, lest he should wound the very great sensibility 



392 SPEECHES OF H8NRT CLA1T. 

of the General. He avers that the communication waa intended 
with the most friendly motives, " that he came as a friend," and that 
he hoped, however it might be received, there would be no alteration 
in the friendly feelings between them. The General graciously con- 
descends to receive the communication, and, in consideration of the 
high standing of the distinguished member, and of his having always 
been a professed friend, he is promised impunity, and assured that 
there shall be no change of amicable ties. After all these necessary 
preliminaries are arranged between the high negotiating powers, the 
envoy proceeds : " he had been informed by the friends of Mr. Clay, 
that the friends of Mr. Adams had made overtures to them, saying if 
Mr. Clay and his friends would unite in aid of the election of Mr. 
Adams, Mr. Clay should be Secretary of State ; that the friends of Mr. 
Adams were urging, as a reason to induce the friends of Mr. Clay to 
accede to their proposition, that if I was elected President, Mr. Ad- 
ams would be continued Secretary of State, (inuendo, there would be 
no room for Kentucky.") [Is this General Jackson's inuendo, or 
that of the distinguished member of Congress ?] " That the friends of 
Mr. Clay stated the West does not want to separate from the West, 
and if I would say, or permit any of my confidential friends to say 
that, in case I was elected President, Mr. Adams should not be con- 
tinued Secretary of State, by a complete union of Mr. Clay and his 
friends, they would put an end to the presidential contest in one hour ; 
and he was of opinion it was right to fight such intriguers with their 
own weapons." To which the General states himself to have re- 
plied in substance, " that in politics, as in every thing else, my guide 
was principle, and contrary to the expressed and unbiased will of the 
people or their constituted agents, I never would step into the Presi- 
dential Chair ; and requested him to say to Mr. Clay and his friends, 
(for I did suppose he had come from Mr. Clay, although he used the 
terms Mr. Clay's friends ,) that before I would reach the Presidential 
Chair by such means of bargain and corruption, I would see the earth 
open and swallow both Mr. Clay and his friends and myself with 
I them." Now all these professions are very fine, and display admira- 
ble purity. But its sublimity would be somewhat more impressive, 
if some person other than General Jackson had proclaimed it. He 
would go into the Presidential Chair, but never, no ! never, contrary 
to " the expressed and unbiased will of the people, or their consti- 
tuted agents :" two modes of arriving at it the more reasonable, as 
there happens to be no other constituted way. He would see " the 



ON THB CHARGE OF CORRUPTION- 293 

earth open ami swallow both Mr. ('lay and his friends and myself," 
before he would reach the Presidential Chair by " such means of 
bargain and corruption." 1 hope General Jackson did not intend that 
the whole human race should be also swallowed up, on the contin- 
gency he has stated, or that they were" to guarantee that he has an 
absolute repugnance to the employment of any exceptionable means 
to secure his elevation to the Presidency. If he had rendered the 
distinguished member of Congress a little more distinguished, by in- 
stantly ordering him from his presence, and by forthwith denouncing 
him and the infamous propositions which he bore, to the American 
public, we should be a little better prepared to admit the claims to 
untarnished integrity, wKich' the General so modestly puts forward. 
But, according to his own account, a corrupt and scandalous proposal 
is made to him ; the person who conveyed it, advises him to accept 
it, and yet that person still retains the friendship of General Jackson, 
who is so tender of his character that his name is carefully concealed 
and reserved to be hereafter brought forward as a witness ! A man, 
who, if he be a member of the House of Representatives, is doubly 
infamous — infamous for the advice which he gave, and infamous for 
his willingness to connive at the corruption of the body of which he 
is a sworn member — is the credible witness by whom General Jack- 
son stands ready to establish the corruption of men, whose characters 
are never questioned ! 

Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so 
highly prized as that of character. Gen. Jackson cannot be insensi- 
ble to its value, for he appears to be most anxious to set forth the 
loftiness and purity of his own. How has he treated mine ? During 
the dispensation of the hospitalities of the Hermitage, in the midst of 
a mixed company of individuals from various States, he permits him- 
self to make certain statements respecting my friends and me, which, 
if true, would forever dishonor and degrade us. The words are 
hardly passed from his mouth, before they are committed to paper, 
by one of his guests, and transmitted in the form of a letter to another 
State, when they are published in a newspaper, and thence circulated 
throughout the union. And now he pretends that these statements 
were made " without any calculation that they were to be thrown 
into the public journals." Does he reprove the indiscretion of this 
guest who had violated the sanctity of a conversation at the hospita- 
ble board ? Far from it The public is incredulous. It cannot be, 

62 



294 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

General Jackson would be so wanting in delicacy and decorum. The 
guest appeals to him for the confirmation of the published statements ; 
and the General promptly addresses a letter to him, in which " he 
unequivocally confirms — (says Mr. Carter Beverly,) all I have said 
regarding the overture made to him pending the last presidential 
election before Congress ; and he asserts a great deal more than lie 
ever told me." I should be glad to know if all the versions of the 
tale have now made their appearance, and whether General Jackson 
will alledge, that he did not " calculate" upon the publication of his 
letter of the 6th of June. 

The General states that the unknown envoy used the terms, " Mr. 
Clay's friends," to the exclusion, therefore, of myself, but he never- 
theless inferred that he had come from me. Now, why did he draw 
this inference contrary to the import of the statement which he re- 
ceived ? Does not this disposition to deduce conclusions unfavora- 
ble to me, manifest the spirit which actuates him ? And does not 
General Jackson exhibit throughout his letter a desire to give a co- 
loring to the statements of his friend, the distinguished member of 
Congress, higher than they would justify ? No one should ever re- 
sort to implication but from necessity. Why did he not ascertain 
from the envoy if he had come from me ? Was any thing more na- 
tural than that GeneralJ ackson should ascertain the persons who had 
deputed the envoy ? If his shocked sensibility and indignant virtue 
and patriotism would not allow him to enquire into particulars, ought 
he to have hazarded the assertion, that I was privy to the proposal, 
without assuring himself of the fact : could he not, after rejecting the 
proposal, continuing, as he did, on friendly terms with the organ of it, 
have satisfied himself if I were conusant of it ? If he had not time 
then, might he not have ascertained the fact from his friend or from 
me, during the intervening two and a half years ? The compunc- 
tions of his own conscience appear for a moment to have visited him 
towards the conclusion of his letter, for he there does say, " that in 
the supposition stated, I may have done injustice to Mr. Clay ; if so, 
the gentleman informing me can explain." No good or honorable 
man will do another voluntarily any injustice. It was not necessary 
that General Jackson should have done me any. And he cannot ac- 
quit himself of the rashness and iniquity of his conduct towards me, 
by referring at this late day to a person whose name is withheld from 
the public. This compenduous mode of administeiu&g justice, by 



OH THE CHAHGE OF CORRUPTION. 295 

first hanging and then trying a man, however justifiable it may be, 
according to the precepts of the Jackson code, is sanctioned by no 
respectable system of jurisprudence. 

It is stated in the letter of the 6th of June, that the overture was 
made early in January ; and that the second day after the communi- 
cation, it " was announced in the newspapers, that Mr. Clay had 
come out openly and avowedly in favor of Mr. Adams." The object 
of this statement is obvious. It is to insinuate that the proposal 
which was rejected with disdain by General Jackson, was accepted 
with promptitude by Mr. Adams. This renders the fact as to the 
time of the alleged annunciation very important. It is to be regret- 
ted that General Jackson had not been a little more precise. It was 
early in January that the overture was made, and the second day after 
the annunciation of my intention took place. Now, I will not assert 
that there may not have been some speculations in the newspapers 
about that time, (although I do not believe there were any speculations 
so early,) as to the probable vote which I should give ; but I should 
be glad to see any newspaper which the second day after early in 
January, asserted in its columns, that I had come out " openly and 
avowedly in favor of Mr. Adams." I challenge the production of 
such a paper. I do not believe my intention so to vote for Mr. 
Adams was announced in the newspapers openly and avowedly du- 
ring the whole month of January, or at any rate until late in that 
month. The only avowal of my intention to vote for him, which 
was publicly made in the newspapers, prior to the election, is con- 
tained in my letter to Judge Brooke, which is dated the 2Sth of Janu- 
ary. It was first published in the Enquirer at Richmond, some time 
in the ensuing month. I go further ; I do not believe any newspaper 
at Washington can be produced announcing, before the latter part of 
January, the fact, whether upon my avowal or not, of my intention 
to vote for Mr. Adams. General Jackson's memory must deceive 
him. He must have confounded events and circumstances. His 
friend, Mr. George Kremer, in his letter to the Columbian Observer, 
bearing date the 25th of January, has, according to my recollection 
-of the public prints, a claim to the merit of being the first, or among 
the first, to announce to the public my intended vote. That letter 
was first published at Philadelphia, and returned in the Columbian 
Observer to Washington city, on the 31st of January. How long be- 
fore its date that letter was written for Mr. Kremer, does not appear 



296 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

Whether there be any connexion made by the distinguished Member 
of Congress, and that letter, perhaps General Jackson can explain. 

At the end of more than two years after a corrupt overture has 
been made to General Jackson, he now, for the first time, openly 
proclaims it. It is true, as I have ascertained since the publication 
of Mr. Beverley's Fayetteville letter, the General has been for a long 
time secretly circulating the charge. Immediately on the appearance 
at Washington of that letter in the public prints, the editor of the 
Telegraph asserted, in his paper, that General Jackson had communi- 
cated the overture to him about the period of the election, not as he 
now states, but according to Mr. Beverley's version of the tale. Since 
I left Washington, on the 10th of last month, I have understood that 
General Jackson has made a similar communication to several other 
persons at different and distant points. Why has the overture been 
thus clandestinely circulated ? Was it that through the medium of 
the Telegraph, the leading paper supporting the interest of General 
Jackson, and through his other depositories, the belief of the charge 
should be duly and gradually infused into the public mind, and thus 
contribute to the support of his cause ? The zeal and industry with 
which it has been propagated, the daily columns of certain newspa- 
pers can testify- Finding the public still unconvinced, has the Gen- 
eral found it to be necessary to come out in proper person, through 
the thin veil of Mr. Carter Beverly's agency ? 

When the alleged overture was made, the election remained unde- 
cided. Why did not General Jackson then hold up to universal scorn 
and indignation the infamous bearer of the proposal, and those who 
dared to insult his honor, and tamper with his integrity ? If he had 
at that time denounced all the infamous parties concerned, demanded 
an inquiry in the House of Representatives, and established by satis- 
factory proof the truth of his accusation, there might and probably 
would have been a different result to the election. Why, when at 
my instance, a Committee was on the fifth day of February, 1825, 
(only four days before the election,) appointed to investigate the 
charges of Mr. Kremer, did not General Jackson present himself and 
establish their truth ? Why, on the seventh of that month, two days 
before the election, when the Committee reported that Mr. Kremer 
declined to come forward, and that " if they Irncw of any reason for 
such investigation, they would have asked to be clothed with the 



OK THE CHARGE OF CORRUPTION- 29* 

proper power, but not having themselves any such knowledge, they 
have felt it to be their duy only to lay before the House the commu- 
nication which they have received ;" why did not General Jackson 
authorize a motion to recommit the report, and manfully come for- 
ward with all his information ? The Congress of the nation is in 
session. An important election has devolved on it. All eyes are 
turned towards Washington. The result is awaited with intense 
anxiety and breathless expectation. A corrupt proposition, affecting 
the election, is made to one. of the candidates. He receives it, is ad- 
vised to accept it, deliberates, decides upon it. A committee is in 
session to investigate the very charge. The candidate, notwithstand- 
ing, remains profoundly silent, and, after the lapse of more than two 
years, when the period of another election is rapidly approaching, in 
which he is the only competitor for the office, for the first time, an- 
nounces it to the American public ! They must have more than an 
ordinary share of credulity who do not believe that General Jackson 
labors under some extraordinary delusion. 

It is possible that he may urge by way of excuse for what must be 
deemed his culpable concealment of meditated corruption, that he did 
not like to volunteer as a witness before the committee, or to transmit 
to it the name of his friend, the distinguished member of the House 
of Representatives, although it is not very easy to discern any just 
reason for his volunteering now, which would not have applied with 
more force at that time. But what apology can be made for his fail- 
ure to discharge his sacred duty as an American Senator ? More than 
two months after the alleged overture, my nomination to the office 
which I now hold, was made to the Senate of the United States, of 
which General Jackson was then a sworn member. On that nomi- 
tion he had to deliberate and to act in the most solemn manner. If I 
were privy to a corrupt proposal to General Jackson, touching the re- 
cent election ; if I had entered into a corrupt bargain with Mr. Adams 
to secure his elevation, I was unworthy of the office to which 1 was 
nominated ; and it was the duty of General Jackson, if he really pos- 
sessed the information which he now puts forward, to have moved 
the Senate to appoint a committee of inquiry, and by establishing my 
guilt, to have preserved the national councils from an abominable con- 
tamination. As the conspiracy of George Kremer & Co. had a short 
time before meanly shrunk from appearing before the committee of 
the House of Representatives, to make good their charge.", I request- 



298 SPEECHES OP HENRY CLAY. 

ed a Senator of the United States, when my nomination should DC 
taken up, to ask of the Senate the appointment of a committee of in- 
quiry, unless it should appear to him to be altogether unnecessary. 
One of our Senators was compelled by the urgency of his private 
business to leave Washington before my nomination was disposed of; 
and as I had but little confidence in the fidelity and professed friend- 
ship of the other, I was constrained to present my application to a 
Senator from another State. I was afterwards informed that when it 
was acted upon, General Jackson, and every other Senator present, 
was silent as to the imputation now made ; no one presuming to 
question my honor or integrity. How can General Jackson justify to 
his conscience or to his country this palpable breach of his public duty ? 
It is in vain to say that he gave a silent negative vote. He was in 
possession of information which, if true, must have occasioned the 
rejection of my nomination. It does not appear that any other Sena- 
tor possessed the same information. Investigation was alike due to 
the purity of the national councils, to me, and, as an act of strict jus- 
tice, to all the other parties implicated. It is impossible for him to 
escape from the dilemma that he has been faithless as a Senator of 
the United States, or has lent himself to the circulation of an atro- 
cious calumny. 

After the election General Jackson was among the first who eagerly 
pressed his congratulations upon his successful rival. If Mr. Adams 
had been guilty of the employment of impure means to effect his elec- 
tion, General Jackson ought to have disdained to sully his own hands 
by touching those of his corrupt competitor. 

On the 10th of February, 1825, the very next day after the elec- 
tion, General Jackson was invited to a public dinner at Washington, 
by some of his friends. He expressed to them his wish that he 
mio-ht be excused from accepting the invitation, because, alluding to 
the recent election, he said, " any evidence of kindness and regard, 
such as you propose, might, by many, be viewed as conveying with it 
exception, murmurings, and feelings of complaint, which I sincerely 
hope belong to none of my friends." More than one month after the 
corrupt proposal is pretended to have been received, and after, accord- 
ing to the insinuation of General Jackson, a corrupt arrangement had 
been made between Mr. Adams and me : after the actual termination 
of an election, the issue of which was brought about, according to 



ON THE CHARGE OF CORRUPTION. 299 

General Jackson, by the basest means, he was unwilling to accept 
the honors of a public dinner, lest it should imply even an exception 
against the result of the election. 

General Jackson professes in his letter of the 6th of June — I quote 
again his words, " to have always intended should Mr. Clay come 
out over his own signature and deny having any knowledge of the 
communication made by his friends to my friends, and to me, that I 
would give him the name of the gentleman through whom that com- 
munication came." He pretends never to have seen the Fayetteville 
letter ; and yet the pretext of a denial under my signature is precisely 
that which had been urged by the principal editors who sustain his 
cause. If this be an unconcerted, it is nevertheless a most wonderful 
coincidence. The General never communicated to me his professed 
intention, but left me in entire ignorance of his generous purpose ; 
like the overture itself, it was profoundly concealed from me. There 
was an authorized denial from me, which went the circle of the pub- 
lic prints, immediately after the arrival at Washington of the Fay- 
etteville letter. In that denial my words are given. They were con- 
tained in a letter dated at Washington cily on the ISth day of April 
last, and are correctly stated to have been " that the statement that 
his (my) friends had made such a proposition as the latter describes 
to the friends of General Jackson was, as far as he knew or believed, 
utterly destitute of foundation ; that he was unwilling to believe that 
General Jackson had made any such statement ; but that no matter 
with whom it had originated, he was fully persuaded it was a gross 
fabrication of the same calumnious character with the Krcmer story, 
put forth for the double purpose of injuring his public character, and 
propping the cause of General Jackson ; and then for himself and for 
his friends he defied the substantiation of the charge before any fair 
tribunal whatever." Such were my own words transmitted in the 
form of a letter from a friend to a known person. Whereas the charge 
which they repelled was contained in a letter written by a person 
then unknown to some person also unknown. Did I not deny the 
charge under my own signature in my card of the 31st January, 1825, 
published in the National Intelligencer ? Was not there a substan- 
tial denial of it in my letter to Judge Brooke, dated the 23th of the 
same month ? In my circular to my constituents ? In my Lewis 
burg speech ? And may I not add, in the whole tenor of my public 
life and conduct ? If General Jackson had offered to furnish me the 



300 SPEECHES OF KENKY CLAY. 

name of a member of Congress, who was capable of advising his ac- 
ceptance of abase and corrupt proposition, ought I to have resorted 
to his infamous and discredited witness ? 

It has been a thousand times asserted and repeated, that I violated 
instructions which I ought to have obeyed. I deny the charge ; and 
I am happy to have this opportunity of denying it in the presence of 
my assembled constituents. The general assembly requested the 
Kentucky delegation to vote in a particular way. A majority of that 
delegation, including myself, voted in opposition to that request. 
The legislature did not intend to give an imperative instruction. The 
distinction between a request and an instruction was familiar to the 
legislature, and their rolls attest that the former is always addressed 
to the members of the House of Representatives, and the latter only 
to the Senators of the United .States. 

But I do not rely exclusively on this recognized distinction. I dis- 
pute at once the right of the legislature to issue a mandatory instruc- 
tion to the representatives of the people. Such a right has no foun- 
dation in the constitution, in the reason or nature of things, nor in 
usage of the Kentucky legislature. Its exercise would be a manifest 
usurpation. The general assembly has the incontrovertible right to 
express its opinions and to proclaim its wishes on any political sub- 
ject whatever ; and to such an expression great deference and re- 
spect are due ; but it is not obligatory. The people, when, in Au- 
gust, 1S2 4, they elected members to the general assembly, did not 
invest them with any power to regulate or control the exercise of the 
discretion of the Kentucky delegation in the Congress of the United 
States. I put it to the candor of every elector present, if he intend- 
ed to part with his own right, or anticipated the exertion of any such 
power, by lite legislature, when he gave his vote in August 1824? 

The only instruction which 1 received from a legitimate source, 
emanated from a respectable portion of my immediate constituents; 
and that directed me to exercise my own discretion, regardless of the 
will of the legislature. You subsequently ratified my vote by une- 
quivocal demonstrations, repeatedly given, of your affectionate attach- 
ment and your unshaken confidence. You ratified it two years ago 
by the election of my personal and political friend (Judge Clarke) to 
succeed me in the House of Representatives, who hod himself sub- 



ON THE CHARGE OF CORRUPTION 301 

acribed the only legitimate instruction which I received. You ratify 
it by the presence and the approbation, of this vast and respectable 
assemblage. 

I rejoice again and again, that the contest has at last assumed its 
present practical form. Heretofore, malignant whispers and dark 
surmises have been clandestinely circulated, or openly or unblush- 
in^ly uttered by irresponsible agents. They were borne upon the 
winds, and like them were invisible and intangible. No responsible 
man stood forward to sustain them, with his acknowledged authority. 
They have at last a local habitation and a name. General Jackson 
has now thrown off the mask and comes confessedly forth from be- 
hind his concealed batteries, publicly to accuse and convict me. We 
stand confronted before the American people. Pronouncing the 
charges, as I again do, destitute of all foundation, and gross aspersions, 
whether clandestinely or openly issued from the halls of the capitol, 
the saloons of the Hermitage, or by press, by pen, or by tongue, and 
safely resting on my conscious integrity, I demand the witness, and 
await the event with fearless confidence. 

The issue is fairly joined. The imputed offence does not compre- 
hend a single friend, but the collective body of my friends in Con- 
gress ; and it accuses them of offering, and me with sanctioning cor- 
rupt propositions, derogating from honor, and in violation of the most 
sacred of duties. The charge has been made after two years delibe- 
ration. General Jackson has voluntarily taken his position, and with- 
out provocation. In voting against him as President of the United 
States, I gave him no just cause of offence. I exercised no more 
than my indisputable privilege, as, on a subsequent occasion, of which 
I have never complained, he exercised his in voting against me as 
Secretary of State. Had I voted for him, I must have gone counter 
to every fixed principle of my public life. I believed him incompe- 
tent, and his election fraught with danger. At this early period of 
the Republic, keeping steadily in view the dangers which had over- 
turned every other Free State, I believed it to be essential to the last- 
ing preservation of our liberties, that a man, devoid of civil talents, 
and offering; no recommendation but one founded on military service, 
should not be selected to administer the government. I believe so 
yet ; and I shall consider the days of the Commonwealth numbered 
when an opposite principle is established. I believed, and still be- 

63 



302 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

lieve, that now, when our institutions are in comparative infancy:, is 
the time to establish the great principle, that military qualification. 
alone is not a sufficient title to the Presidency. If we start right, we 
may run a long race of liberty, happiness, and glory- If we stumble 
in setting out, we shall fall as others have fallen before us, and fall 
without even a claim to the regrets or sympathies of mankind. 

I have never done General Jackson, knowingly, any injustice. I 
have taken pleasure, on every proper occasion, to bestow on biro 
merited praise for the glorious issue of the battle of New Orleans. 
No American citizen enjoyed higher satisfaction than I did with the 
event. I heard it for the first time on the boulevards of Paris ; and 
I eagerly perused the details of the actions, with the. anxious hopo 
that I should find that the gallant militia of my own State bad aveng- 
ed, on the banks of the Mississippi, the blood which they had so 
freely spilt on the disastrous field of Raisin. That hope" was not 
then gratified ; and although I had the mortification to read in the 
official statement, that they ingloriously fled, I was nevertheless 
thankful for the success of the arms of my country,, and felt grateful 
to him who had most contributed to the ever memorable victory. 
This concession is not now made for the purpose of conciliating the 
favor or mitigating the wrath of General Jackson. He has erected 
an impassable barrier between us, and I would scorn to accept any* 
favor at his hands. I thank my Gor* that He has endowed me with 
a soul incapable of apprehensions from the anger of any being but 
himself. 

I have as your Representative, freely examined, and in my delibe- 
rate judgment, justly condemned the conduct of General Jackson in 
some of our Indian wars. I believed, and yet believe him, to have 
trampled upon the constitution of his country, arid to have violated 
the principles of humanity. Entertaining these opinions, I did not 
and could not vote for him. 

I owe you, my friends and fe!low-citizens s ttiany ap " this 

long interruption of the fesl i viti< s of the day. I hope that my desire 
to vindicate their honored object, and to satisfy you that he is not 
altogether unworthy of thorn, will be deemed sufficient. 



ON RETIRING FROM OFFICE. 

At Washington, March 7, 1829. 



[After the triumphant election of General Jackson as President in 1828, ard hi* 
imposing Inauguration to that office, March 4th, 1829, a number of the friends of Mr; 
Clay, (who had resigned the post of Secretary of State the day before that Inaugu- 
ration, and was preparing to return to his Western home) insisted that he should 
meet them around the festive board prior to his departure. To this request he acce 
ded. The fifth toast was : 

" Health, prosperity, and happiness to our highly valued and esteemed guest and 
fellow-citizen, Henry Clay. Whatever the future destination of his life, he has 
done enough for honor, and need desire no higher reward than the deep seated affec- 
tion and respect of his friends and his country." 

This having been received with profound enthusiastic feeling, Mr. Clay arose and 
addressed the company as follows :] 

In rising, Mr. President, to offer my respectful acknowledgements 
for the honors of which I am here the object, I must ask the indul- 
gence of yourself and the other gentlemen noW assembled, for an un- 
affected embarrassment, which is more sensibly felt than it can be dis- 
tinctty expressed. This city has been the theatre of the greater por- 
tion of my public life. You, and others whom I now see, have been 
spectators of my public course and conduct. You and they are, if I 
may borrow a technical expression from an honorable profession, of 
which you and I are both members, jurors of the vicinage. To a 
judgment rendered by those who have thus long known m<*, and by 
others though not of the panel, who have possessed equal opportuni- 
ties of forming correct opinions, I most cheerfully submit. If the 
weight of human testimony should be estimated by the intelligence 
and respectability of the witness, and the extent of his knowledge of 
the matter on which he testifies, the highest consideration is due to 
that which has been this day spontaneously given. I shall ever 



304 SPEECHES OF HENRT CLAT. 

cherish it with the most grateful recollection, and look back upon it 
with proud satisfaction. 

I should be glad to feel that I could with any propriety abstain from 
any allusion at this time and at this place, to public affairs. But con- 
sidering the occasion which has brought us together, the events 
which have preceded it, and the influence which they may exert upon 
the destinies of our country, my silence might be misinterpreted, and 
I think it therefore proper that I should embrace this first public op- 
portunity which I have had of saying a few words, since the termina- 
tion of the late memorable and embittered contest. It is far from my 
wish to continue or to revive the agitation with which that contest 
was attended. It is ended, for good or for evil. The nation wants 
repose. A majority of the people has decided, and from their deci- 
sion there can and ought to be no appeal. Bowing, as I do, with 
profound respect to them, and to this exercise of their sovereign au- 
thority, I may nevertheless be allowed to retain and to express my 
own unchanged sentiments, even if they should not be in perfect co- 
incidence with theirs. It is a source of high gratification to me to 
believe that I share these sentiments in common with more than half 
a million of freemen, possessing a degree of virtue, of intelligence, of 
religion, and of genuine patriotism, which, without disparagement to 
others, is unsurpassed, in the same number of men in this or any 
other country, in this or any other age. 

I deprecated the election of the present President of the United 
States, because I believed he had neither the temper, the experience, 
nor the attainments requisite to discharge the complicated and ardu- 
ous duties of chief magistrate. I deprecated it still more, because 
his elevation, I believed, Avould be the result exclusively of admira- 
tion and gratitude for military service, without regard to indispensable 
civil qualifications. I can neither retract, nor alter, nor modify any 
opinion which, on these subjects, I have at any time heretofore ex- 
pressed. I thought I beheld in his election an awful foreboding of 
the fate which, at some future (I pray to God that, if it ever arrive, ' 
it may be some far distant) day was to befall this infant republic. All 
past history has impressed on my mind this solemn apprehension. 
Nor is it effaced or weakened by contemporaneous events passing 
upon our own favored continent. It is remarkable that, at this 
epoch, at the head of eight of the nine independent governments 



ON RETIRING FROM OFFICE. 305 

established in both Americas, military officers have been placed, or 
have placed themselves. General Lavalle has, by military force, 
subverted the republic of La Plata. General Santa Cruz is the chief 
magistrate of Bolivia ; Colonel Pinto of Chili ; General Lamar of 
Peru, and General Bolivar of Colombia. Central America, rent in 
pieces, and bleeding at every pore from wounds inflicted by contend- 
ing military factions, is under the alternate sway of their chiefs. In 
the government of our nearest neighbor, an election, conducted ac- 
cording to all the requirements of their constitution, has terminated 
with a majority of the States in favor of Pedrazza, the civil candidate. 
An insurrection was raised in behalf of his military rival ; the cry, 
not exactly of a bargain, but of corruption, was sounded ; the election 
was annulled, and a reform effected by proclaiming General Guerrero, 
having only a minority of the States, duly elected President. The 
thunders from the surrounding forts, and the acclamations of the as- 
sembled multitude, on the fourth, told us what general was at the 
head of our affairs. It is true, and in this respect we are happier 
than some of the Americean States, that his election has not been 
brought about by military violence. The forms of the constitution 
have yet remained inviolate. 

In re-asserting the opinions which I hold, nothing is further from 
my purpose than to treat with the slightest disrespect those of my 
fellow-citizens here or elsewhere, who may entertain opposite senti- 
ments. The fact of claiming and exercising the free and independent 
expression of the dictates of my own deliberate judgment, affords the 
strongest guarantee of my full recognition of their corresponding 
privilege. 

A majority of my fellow-citizens, it would seem, do not perceive 
the dangers which I apprehended from the example. Believing that 
they are not real, or that we have some security against their effect, 
which ancient and modern republics have not found, that majority, in 
the exercise of their incontestible right of suffrage, have chosen for 
chief magistrate a citizen who brings into that high trust no qualifi- 
cation other than military triumphs. 

That citizen has done much injustice — wanton, unprovoked, and 
unatoned injustice. It was inflicted, as I must ever believe, for the 
double purpose of gratifying private resentment and promoting per- 



306 SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY. 

sonal ambition. When, during the late canvas, he came forward in 
the public prints under his proper name, with his charge against me, 
and summoned before the public tribunal his friend and his only wit- 
ness to establish it, the anxious attention of the whole American peo- 
ple was directed to the testimony which that witness might render. 
He promptly obeyed the call and testified to what he knew. He 
could say nothing, and he said nothing, which cast the slightest shade 
upon my honor or integrity. What he did say was the reverse of 
any implication of me. Then all just and impartial men, and all who 
had faith in the magnanimity of my accuser, believed that he would 
voluntarily make a public acknowledgement of his error. How far 
this reasonable expectation has been fulfilled, let his persevering and 
stubborn silence attest. But my relations to that citizen by a recent 
event are now changed. He is the chief magistrate of my country, 
invested with large and extensive powers, the administration of which 
may conduce to its prosperity or occasion its adversity. Patriotism 
enjoins as a duty, that whilst he is in that exalted station, he should 
be treated with decorum, and his official acts be judged of in a spirit 
of candor. Suppressing, as far as I can, a sense of my personal 
wrong — willing even to forgive him, if his own conscience and our 
common God can acquit him — and entertaining for the majority which 
has elected him, and for the office which he fills, all the deference 
which is due from a private citizen, I most anxiously hope that under 
his guidance the great interests of our country, foreign and domestic, 
may be upheld, our free institutions be unimpaired, and the happiness 
of the nation be continued and increased. 

While I am prompted by an ardent devotion to the welfare of my 
country, sincerely to express this hope, I make no pledges, no 
promises, no threats, and I must add, I have no confidence. My 
public life, I trust, furnishes the best guarantee for my faithful ad- 
herence to those great principles of external and internal policy, to 
which it has been hitherto zealously dedicated. Whether I shall 
ever hereafter take any part in the public councils or not, depends 
upon circumstances beyond my control. Holding the principle that a 
citizen, as long as a single pulsation remains, is under an obligation 
to exert his utmost energies in the service of his country, if necessa- 
ry, whether in private or public station, my friends here and every- 
where may rest assured that, in either condition, I shall stand erect, 
with a spirit unconquered, whilst life endures, ready to second their 



OS? RBTIRINQ FROM OFFICE. 3G7 

ejcerOo.-tK in the cause of liberty, the union, and the national pros- 
perity. 

Before I set down 1 avail myself with pleasure of this opportunity 
■tul acknowledgments for the courtesies and friendl} r 
attentions which I have uniformly experienced from the inhabitants 
of this city. A free and social intercourse with them, during a period 
wen , ^ ears, is about to terminate, without any recol- 
lection on my part of a single painful collision, and without leaving 
behind me, as far as I know, a solitary personal enemy. If, in the 
sentiment with which I am about to conclude, I do not give a partic- 
ular expression to the feelings inspired by the interchange of civilities 
and friendly offices, I hope the citizens of Washington will be assured 
that their individual happiness and the growth and prosperity of this 
city will ever be objects of my fervent wishes. In the sentiment 
which srntiy offer, they are indeed comprehended. For the 

welfare of this city is indissolubly associated with that of our Union, 
nod th« pi-eierifiHtion of our liberty. I request permission to propose, 

Ls^ Dm sbv»i Despaxb or tee Aaieiucajt Repumjc. 



APPENDIX 



TO VOLUME I. 



ON MANUFACTURES. 

Itt the Skwati or thi United States, April 6, 1810. 

Ma, President :— The local interest of the quarter of the country which I have 
the honor to represent, will apologize for the trouble I may give you on this occa- 
sion. My colleague has proposed an amendment to the bill before you, instructing 
the Secretary of the Navy to provide supplies of cordage, sail-cloth, hemp, &c, and 
to give a preference to those of American growth and manufacture. It has been 
moved by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lloyd) to strike out this part of 
the amendment ; and in the course of the discussion which has arisen, remarks 
have been made on the general policy of promoting manufactures. The propriety 
of this policy is, perhaps, not very intimately connected with the subject before us ; 
but it is, nevertheless, within the legitimate and admisssible scope of debate. Un- 
der this impression I offer my sentiments 

In inculcating the advantages of domestic manufactures, it never entered the 
head, I presume, of any one, to change the habits of the nation from an agricultural 
to a manufacturing community. No one, I am persuaded, ever thought of convert- 
ing the plough-share and the sickle into the spindle and the shuttle. And yet this 
is the delusive and erroneous view too often taken of the subject. The opponents 
of the manufacturing system transport themselves to the establishments of Man- 
chester and Birmingham, and dwelling on the indigence, vice, and wretchedness 
prevailing there, by pushing it to an extreme, argue that its introduction into this 
country will necessarily be attended by the same mischievous and dreadful conse- 
quences. But what is the fact 1 That England is the manufacturer of a great part 
of the world ; and that, even there, the numbers thus employed bear an inconsid- 
erable proportion to the whole mass of population. "Were we to become the mami 
facturers of other nations, effects of the same kind might result. But, if we limit 
our efforts, by our own wants, the evils apprehended would be found to be chimeri- 
cal. The invention and improvement in machinery, for which the present age is 
so remarkable, dispensing in a great degree with manual labor ; and the employ- 
ment of those persons, who, if we were engaged in the pursuit of agriculture alone, 
would be either unproductive, or exposed to indolence and immorality, will enable 
M to supply our .wants, without withdrawing our attention from agriculture, that 



l5. APPENDIX. 

first and greatest source of national wealth and happiness. A judicious American 
farmer, in the household way, manufactures whatever is requisite for his family 
He squanders but little in the gewgaws of Europe. He presents in epitome what 
the nation ought to in extenso. Their manufactories should bear the same propor- 
tion, and effect the same object in relation to the whole community, which the part 
of his household employed in domestic manufacturing bears to the whole family 
It is certainly desirable that the exports of the country should continue to be the 
surplus production of tillage, and not become those of manufacturing establishments. 
But it is important to diminish our imports— to furnish ourselves with clothing, 
made by our own industry— and to cease to be dependant, for the very coats we 
wear, upon a foreign, and perhaps inimical country. The nation that imports its 
cloth from abroad, is but little less dependant than if it imported its bread. 

The fallacious course of reasoning urged against domestic manufactures, namely, 
the distress and servitude produced by that of England, would equally indicate the 
propriety of abandoning agriculture itself. Were you to cast your eyes upon the 
miserable peasantry of Poland, and revert to the days of feudal vassalage, you might 
thence draw numerous arguments of the kind now under consideration, against the 
pursuits of the husbandman ! What would become of commerce, the favorite 
theme of some gentlemen, if assailed with this sort of weapon 1 The fraud, perjury, 
cupidity, and corruption, with which it is unhappily too often attended, would at 
once produce its overthrow. In short, sir, take the black side of the picture, and 
every human occupation will be found pregnant with fatal objections. 

The opposition to manufacturing institutions recalls to my recollection the case 
of a gentleman, of whom I have heard. He had been in the habit of supplying his 
table from a neighboring cook and confectioner's shop, and proposed to his wife a 
reform, in this particular. She revolted at the idea. The sight of a scullion was 
dreadful, and her delicate nerves could not bear the clattering of kitchen furniture. 
The gentleman persisted in his design ; his table was thenceforth cheaper and bet- 
ter supplied, and his neighbor, the confectioner, lost one of his best customers. In 
like manner Dame Commerce will oppose domestic manufactures. She is a flirt- 
ing, flippant, noisy jade, and if we are governed by her fantasies, we shall never put 
off'the muslins of India and the cloths of Europe. But I trust that the yeomanry 
of the country, the true and genuine landlords of this tenement, called the United 
States, disregarding her freaks, will persevere in reform, until the whole national 
family is furnished by itself with the clothing necessary for its own use. 

It is a subject, no less of curiosity than of interest, to trace the prejudices in favor 
of foreign fabrics. In our colonial condition, we were in a complete state of de- 
pendance on the parent country, as it respected manufactures, as well as commerce 
For many years after the war, such was the partiality for her productions, in thia 
countiy, that a gentleman's head could not withstand the influence of solar heat, 
unless covered with a London hat— his feet could not bear the pebbles, or frost, un- 
less protected by London shoes— and the comfort or ornament of his person was 
only consulted, when his coat was cut out by the shears of a tailor " just from Lon- 
don." At length, however, the wonderful discovery has been made, that it is not 
absolutely beyond the reach of American skill and ingenuity, to provide these arti- 
cles, combining with equal elegance, greater durability. And I entertain no doubt, 
that in a short time, the no less important fact will be developed, that the domestic 
manufactories of the United States, fostered by government, and aided by house- 
hold exertions, are fully competent to supply us with at least every necessary articlo 
of clothing. I therefore, sir, for one (to use the fashionable cant of the day) am in 



APPENDIX. 1U. 

favor of encouraging them, not to the extent to which they are carried in England, 
but to such an extent as will redeem us entirely from all dependance on foreign 
countries. There is a pleasure — a pridp (if I may be allowed the expression, and I 
pity those who cannot feel the sentiment) in being clad in the productions of our 
own families. Others may prefer th'^ cloths of Leeds and of London, but give me 
those of Humphreysville. 

Aid maybe given to native institutions in the form of bounties and of protecting 
duties. But against bounties it is urged, that you tax the irhole for the benefit of a 
part only, of the community ; and in opposition to duties it is alleged, that you 
make the interest of one part, the consumer, beud to the interest of another part, 
the manufacturer. The sufficiency of the answer is not always admitted, that the 
sacrifice is merely temporary, being ultimately compensated by the greater abund- 
ance and superiority of the article produced by the stimulus. But, of all practicable 
forms of encouragement, it might have been expected that the one under consid- 
eration would escape opposition, if everything proposed in Congress were not doom- 
ed to experience it. What is it 1 ? The bill contains two provisions — one prospec- 
tive, anticipating the appropriation for clothing for the army, and the amendment 
proposes extending it to naval supplies, for the year 1811 — and the other, directing 
a preference to be given to home manufactures, and productions, whenever it can 
be done without material detriment to the public service. The object of the first is to 
authorize contracts to be made beforehand, with manufacturers, and by making ad- 
vances to them, under proper security, to enable them to supply ihe articles wanted 
in sufficient quantity. When it is recollected that they are frequently men of limited 
capital, it will be acknowledged that this kind of assistance, bestowed with pru- 
dence, will be productive of the best results. It is in fact, only pursuing a principle 
long acted upon, of advancing to contractors with government, on account of the 
magnitude of their engagemects. The appropriation contemplated to be made for 
the year 1811, may be restricted to such a sum as, whether we have peace or wax, 
we must necessarily expend. The discretion is proposed to be vested in officers of 
high confidence, who will be responsible for its abuse, and who are enjoined to see 
that the public service receives no material detriment. It is stated that hemp is now 
very high, and that contracts, made under existing circumstances, will be injurious 
to government. But the amendment creates no obligation upon the Secretary of 
the Navy to go into market at this precise moment. In fact, by enlarging his 
sphere of action, it admits of his taking advantage of a favorable fluctuation, and 
getting a supply below the accustomed price, if such a fall should occur prior to the 
usual annual appropriation. 

I consider the amendment under consideration of the first importance, in point of 
principle. It is evident that whatever doubt may be entertained, as to the general 
policy of the manufacturing system, none can exist, as to the propriety of our being 
able to furnish ourselves with articles of the first necessity, in time of war. Our 
maritime operations ought not, in such a state, to depend upon the causualties of 
foreign supply. It is not necessary that they should. With very little encourage- 
ment from government, 1 believe we shall not want a pound of Russia hemp. The 
increase of the article in Kentucky has been rapidly great. Ten years ago, there 
were but two. rope manufactories in the State. Now there are about twenty, and 
between ten and fifteen of cotton bagging ; and the erection of new ones keeps pace 
with the annual augmentation of the quantity of hemp. Indeed the western coun- 
try, alone, is not only adequate to the supply of whatever of this article is requisite 
for our own consumption, but is capable of affording a surplus for foreign markets., 
The amendment proposed ( o^sessf.s the double recommendation of encouraging, at. 



fcw, APPENDIX. 

.he same time, both the manufacture and the growth of hemp. For, by inereasag 
\he demand for the wrought article, you also increase the demand for the raw ma- 
terial, and consequently present new incentives to its cultivator. 

The three great subjects that claim the attention of the national legislature, are 
the interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. We have had before 
us, a proposition to afford a manly protection to the rights of commerce, and how 
has it been treated t Rejected ! You have been solicited to promote agriculture, 
by increasing the facilities of internal communication, through the means of canals 
and roads, and what has been done * Postponed ! We are now called upon t* 
give a trifling support to our domestic manufactures, and shall we close the circle 
cf Congressional inefficiency, by adding this also to the catalogue 1 



ON HIS RETURN FROM GHENT. 

At Lexihgton, Kentucky, October 7, 1815. 

[A Publit Dinner was g;»en to Mr. CtiT, en his return from Ghent, by hie fellnw-citizens of Lexington, JLf 
The eixth Toast was : 

"Our able negotiators at Ghent— Their ulente for diplomacy ha»e kept pace with the valor of eur arm ■ 
• demonstrating' to the enemy that these Slates will be free." t 

This Toast w.ts received with loud and repeated cheering. After it had eubeided, Ms. Clii addressee! Use 
assembly as follows .] 

I feel myself called on by the sentiment just expressed, to return my thanks, in 
behalf of my colleagues and myself. I do not, and am quite sure they do not, feel 
that in the service alluded to, they are at all entitled to the compliment which 
nas been paid them. We could not do otherwise than reject the demand made by 
the other party, and if our labors finally terminated in an honorable peace, it was 
owing to causes on this side of the Atlantic, and not to any exertions of ours. 
Whatever diversity of opinion may have existed as to the declaration of the war, 
there are some points on which all may look back with proud satisfaction. The 
first relates to the time of the conclusion of the peace. Had it been made imme- 
diately after the treaty of Paris, we should have retired humiliated from the con- 
test, believing that we had escaped the severe chastisement with which we were 
threatened, and that we owed to the generosity and magnanimity of the enemy, 
what we were incapable of commanding by our arms. That magnanimity would 
have been the theme of every tongue, and of every press, abroad and at home. We 
should have retired unconscious of our own strength, and unconscious of the utter 
inability of the enemy, whith his whole undivided force, to make any serious im- 
pression upon us. Our military character, then in the lowest 6tate of degradation 
would have been unretrieved. Fortunately for us, Great Britain chose to try the 
issue of the last campaign. And the issue of the last campaign has demonstrated, 
in the repulse before Baltimore, the retreat from Plattsburgh, the hard-fought ac- 
tion on the Niagara frontier, and in that most glorious day, the 8th of Jannary, 
that we have always possessed the finest elements of military composition, and that 



APPENDIX ▼ 

ft proper use of them only was necessary to ensure for the army and militia a fame 
II imperishable as that which the navy had previously acquired. 

Another point which appears to me to afford the highest consolation is, that we 
fought the most powerful nation, perhaps, in existence, single-handed and alone, 
without any sort of alliance. More than thirty years has Great Britain been ma- 
turing her physical means, which she had rendered as efficacious as jpossible, by 
Bkill, by discipline, and by actual service. Proudly boasting of the conquest of 
Europe, she vainly flattered herself with the easy conquest of America also. Her 
veterans were put to flight or defeated, while all Europe— I mean the government 
of Europe— was gazing with cold indifference, or sentiments of positive hatred of 
us, upon the arduous contest. Hereafter no monarch can assert claims of gratitude 
upon us, for assisistance rendered in the hour of danger. 

There is another view of which the subject of the war is fairly susceptible. From 
the moment that Great Britain came forward at Ghent with her extravagant de- 
mands, the war totally changed its character. It became as it were a ne\» war. 
It was no longer an American war, prosecuted for redress of British aggressions 
upon American rights, but became a British war, prosecuted for objects of British 
ambition, to be accompanied by American sacrifices. And what were those de 
mands 1 Here, in the immediate neighborhood of a sister State and Territories, 
which were to be made, in part, the victims, they must have been felt, and their 
enormity justly appreciated. They consisted of the erection of a barrier between 
Canada and the United States, to be formed by cutting off from Ohio and some of 
the Territories, a country more extensive than Great Britain, containing thousands 
of freemen, who were to be abandoned to their fate, and creating a new power, 
totally unknown upon the continent of America : Of the dismantling of our for- 
tresses, and naval power on the lakes, with the surrender of the military occupa- 
tion of those waters to the enemy, and of an arrcndissemcnt for two British pro- 
vinces. These demands, boldly asserted, and one of them declared to be a sine qua 
non, were finally relinquished. Taking this view of the subject, if there be loss ot 
reputation by either party, in the terms of the peace, who has sustained it 1 

The effects of the war, are highly satisfactory. Abroad our character, which 
at the time of its declaration, was in the Lowest state of degradation, is raised to 
the highest point of elevation. It is impossible for any American to visit Europe 
without being sensible of this agreeable change, in the personal attentions which he 
receives, in the praises which are bestowed on our past exertions, and the predic- 
tions which are made as -to our future prospects. At home, a government, which, 
at its formation, was apprehended by its best friends and pronounced by its ene- 
mies to be incapable of standing the shock, is found to answer all the purposes of 
its institution. In spite of the errors which have been committed, (and errors have 
undoubtedly been committed) aided by the spirit and patriotism of the people, it is 
demonstrated to be as competent to the objects of effective war, as it has been De- 
fore proven to be to the concerns of a season of peace. Government has thus ac- 
quired strength and confidence. Our prospects for the future are of the brightest 
kind. With every reason to count on the permanence of peace, it remains only for 
the government to determine upon military and naval establishments adapted to the 
growth and extension of our country and its rising importance, keeping in view a 
gradual but not burdensome increase of the navy. To provide for the payment of 
the interest, and the redemption of the public debt, and for the current expenses of 
government. For all these objects, the existing sources of the revenue promises not 
only to be abundantly sufficient, but will probably leave ample scope to the exercise 



yi, APPENDIX. 

of the judgment of Congress, in selecting for repeal, modification, or abolition. thoe« 
which may be found most oppressive, inconvenient, or unproductive. 

[The eighteenth and last ToaM was r~" Our guest, Henbt Claf-Ws welcome his return to that country, whole 
rights and interest! he has so ahly maintained at home and abroad."] 

My friends, I must again thank you for your kind and affectionate attention. 
My reception has been more like that of a brother than a common friend or ac- 
quaintance, and I am utterly incapable of finding words to express my gratitude 
My situation is like that of a Swedish gentleman, at a dinner given in England, by 
the Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress. A toast having been given com- 
plimentary to his country, it was expected, aa is usual on such occasions, that he 
would rise and address the company. The gentleman, not understanding the Eng- 
lish language, rose under great embarrassment, and said : " Sir, I wish you to con- 
sider me A Foreigner wi Distress." I wish you, gentlemen, to consider me & 
Friend in distress. 



ON THE SPANISH TREATY. 

In thi House of Representatives, April 3, 1820. 

Resolved. That the Constitution of the United States ve«W io Cougress the power to dispose of the lerruwy 
belonging to them, and that no treaty, purporting to alienate any portion Uiereof, is valid without the concur- 
rence of Congress. 

Resolved That the equivalent proposed to be giren by Spam to the United States in the treaty concluded be- 
tween them, on the 23d of February, 1819, for that part of Louisiana lying west of the Sabine, was uiaoeuuate ; and 
that it would be inexpedient to make a transfer thereof to any foreign power, or to renew the aforesaid treaty. 

While I feel very grateful to the House for the prompt and respectful manner in 
which they have allowed me to enter upon the discussion of the resolutions which I 
had the honor of submitting to their notice, I must at the same time frankly say, 
that 1 think their character and consideration, in the councils of this nation, is con- 
cerned in not letting the present session pass off without deliberating upon our af- 
fairs with Spain. In coming to the present session of CongTess, it has been my 
anxious wish to be able to concur with the executive branch of the government in 
the measures which it might conceive itself called upon to recommend on that sub- 
ject, for two reasons, of which, the first, relating personally to myself, I will not 
trouble the corhmittei; with further noticing. The other is, that it appears to me to 
be always desirable, in respect to the foreign action of this government, that 
there should be a perfect coincidence in opinion between its sev ral coordinate 
branches. In time, however, of peace, it may be allowable to those who are charg- 
ed with the public interests to entertain and express their respective views, although 
there may be some discordance between them. In a season of war, there should be 
no division in the public councils: but an united and vigorous exertion to bring the 
war to an honorable conclusion. For my part, whenever ihai calamity may befall 
my country, I would entertain but one wish, Mid that is, that success might crown 
our struggle, and the war be honorably &ud gloriously terminated. 1 would never 



APPENDIX. Vn. 

tffuse to share in the joys incident to the victory of our arms, nor to participate in 
the griefs o f defeat or discomfiture. I concede entirely in the sentiment once ex- 
pressed oy that illustrious hero, whose recent melancholy fall we all so sincerely 
deplore, that fortune may attend our country in whatever war it may be involved. 

There are two systems of policy which our government has had the choice. The 
first is, by appealing to the justice and affections of Spain, to employ all those per- 
suasives which could arise out of our abstinence from any direct countenance to the 
cause of South America and the observance of a strict neutrality. The other is, 
by appealing to her justice also and to her fears, to prevail upon her to redress the 
injuries of which we complain — her fears by a recognition of the independent 
governments of South America, and leaving her in a state of uncertainty as to the 
further steps we may take in respect to those governments. The unratified treaty 
is the result of the first system. It cannot be positively affirmed what effect the other 
system will produce ; but I verily believe that, while it renders justice to those gov- 
ernments, and will better comport with that magnanimous policy which ought to 
characterize our own, it will more successfully tend to an amicable arrangement of 
our differences with Spain. 

The first system has so far failed. At the commencement of the session, the 
President recommended an enforcement of the provisions of the treaty. After three 
months deliberation, the Committee of Foreign Affairs, not being able to concur with 
him, he has made us a report recommending the seizure of Florida in the nature of a 
reprisal. Now the President recommends our postponement of the subject until the 
next session. It has been my intention, whenever the Committee of Foreigi Affairs 
should engage the House to act upon their bill, to offer, as a substitute for it the sys- 
tem which I think it becomes this country to adopt, of which the occupation of Texas, 
as our own, would have been a part, and the recognition of the independent govern- 
ments of South America another. If I do not now bring forward this system, it is 
because the Committee propose to withdraw their bill, aud because I know too much 
of the temper of the House and the Executive, to think that it is advisable to bring 
it forward. I hope that some suitable opportunity may occur during the session, for 
considering the propriety of recognizing the independent governments of South 
America. 

Whatever I may think of the discretion which was evinced in recommending the 
postponement of the bill of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, I cannot think that 
the reasons assigned by the President for that recommendation, were entitled to the 
"weight which he has given them. I think the House is called upon, by a high sense 
of duty, seriously to animadvert upon some of those reasons. I believe it is the first 
example in the annals of the country, in which a course of policy respecting a foreign 
power, which we must suppose has been deliberately considered, has been recom- 
mended to be abandoned, in a domestic communication from one to another coordi- 
nate branch of the government, upon the avowed ground of the interposition of for- 
eign powers. And what is the nature of this interposition ? It is evidenced from 
the cargo of scraps gathered up from this Charge d'Affairs, and that — of loose con- 
versations held with this foreign minister, and that — perhaps mere levee conversa- 
tions, without a commitment in writing, m a solitary instance, of any of the foreign 
parties concerned, except only in the case of his Imperial Majesty ; and what was 
the character of his commitment we shall presently see. But I enter my solemn 
protest against this and every other species of foreign interference in our matters 
with Spain. What have they to do with them ? Would they not repel as an offi. 



viii. appendix. 

tious and insulting intrusion, any interference on our part in their concerns with for- 
eign states ? Would his imperial majesty hare listened with complacency to our 
remonstrances against the vast acquisitions which he has recently made? He has 
lately crammed his maw with Finland and with the spoils of Poland, and while the 
difficult process of mastication is going on he throws himself upon a couch, and 
cries out — don't, don't disturb my repose. 

He charges his minister here to plead the cause of peace ani xuioid ' The Amer 
ican government is too enlightened" (ah ! sir, how sweet this unction is, which is 
poured down our backs.) to take hasty steps. And his imperial majesty's minister 
here is required to engage (I hope the original expression is less strong, but I believe 
the French word engager bears the same meaning,) the American government, &c." 
" Nercrtheless, the emperor does not interpose in this discussion." No ! not he. He 
makes above all "no pretension to exercise influence in the councils of a foreign 
power." Not the slightest. And yet, at the very instant when he is protesting 
against the imputation of this influence, his interposition is proving effectual ! His 
imperial majesty has at least manifested so far, in this particular, his capacity to 
govern his empire, by the selection of a sagacious minister. For if Count Nesselrode 
had never written another paragraph, the extract from his despatch to Mr. Poletlca, 
which has been transmitted to this House, will demonstrate that he merited the con- 
fidence of his master. It is ^uite refreshing to read such State papers, after peru- 
sing those (1 am sorry to say it, I wish there was a veil broad and thick enough to 
conceal them for ever,) which this treaty has produced on the part of our govern- 
ment. 

Conversations between my Lord Castlereagh and our minister at London have also 
been communicated to this House. Nothing from the hand of his lordship is produ- 
ced ; no ! he does not commit himself in that way. The sense in which our minister 
understood, and the purport of certain parts of despatches from the British govern- 
ment to its minister at Madrid, which he deigned to read to our minister, are alone 
communicated to us. Now we know very well how diplomatists, when it is their 
pleasure to do so, can wrap themselves up in mystery. No man, more than my Lord 
Castlereagh, who is also an able minister, possessing much greater talents than are 
allowed to him generally in this country, can successfully express himself in ambig- 
uous languuage when he choses to employ it. I recollect myself once to have wit 
nessed this facility on the part of his lordship. The case was this : when Bonaparte 
made his escape from Elba, and invaded France, a great part of Europe believed it 
was with the connivance of the British ministry. The opposition charged them in 
Parliament with it, and they were interrogated to know what measures of precaution 
they had taken against such an event. Lord Castlereagh replied by stating, that 
there was an understanding with a certain naval officer of high rank, commanding 
in the adjacent seas, that he was to act on certain contingencies. Now, Mr. Chairman, 
if you can make any thing intelligible out of this reply, you will h»e much more 
success than the English opposition had. 

The allowance of interference by foreign powers in the affairs of our government, 
not pertaining to themselves, is against the counsels of all our wisest politicians— 
those of Washington, Jefferson, and I would also add, those of the present chief 
magistrate, for, pending this very Spanish negotiation, the offer of the mediation of 
foreign States was declined, upon the true ground that Europe had her system, and 
■we ours ; and that it was not compatible with our policy to entangle ourselves in the 
labyrinths of hers. But a mediation is far prcferabl&to ths species of interference on 



APPENDIX. IX 

which it had been my reluctant duty to comment. The mediator is a judge, placed 
on high, his conscience his guide, the world his spectators, and posterity his judge. 
His position is one, therefore, of the greatest responsibility. But what responsibility. 
is attached to this sort of irregular, drawing-room, intriguing interposition? I can 
see no motive for governing or influencing our policy in regard to Spain, furnished in 
any of the communications which respected the disposition of foreign powers. I re- 
gret, for my part, that they have at all been consulted. There is nothing in the 
character of the power of Spain ; nothing in the beneficial nature of the stipulations 
of the treaty to us, which warrants us in seeking the aid of foreign powers, if in any 
case whatever that aid is desirable. 1 am far from saying that, in the foreign action 
of this government, it may not be prudent to keep a watchful eye upon the probable 
conduct of foreign powers. That may be a material circumstance to be taken into 
consideration. But I never would avow to our own people— never promulgate to 
foreign powers, that their wishes and interference were the controlling cause of our 
policy. Such promulgation would lead to the most alarming consequences. It is 
to invite further interposition. It might, in process of time create in the bosom of 
our country a Russian faction, a British faction, a French faction. Every nation 
ought to be jealous of this species of interference, whatever is its form of govern- 
ment. But of all forms of government the united testimony of all history admou- 
ishes a republic to be most guarded against it. From the moment Philip intermeddled 
with the affairs of Greece, the liberty of Greece was doomed to inevitable destruc- 
tion. . 

Suppose we could see the communications which have passed between his imperial 
majesty and the British government, respectively, and Spain, in regard to ihe United 
States ; what do you imagine would be their character ? Do you suppose the same 
language has been held to Spain and to us? Do you not, on the contrary, believe, 
that the sentiments expressed to her have been consoling to her pride? That we 
have been represented, perhaps, as an ambitious republic, seeking to aggrandize our 
selves at her expense ? 

The other ground taken by the President, the present distressed condition 
of Spain, for his recommendation of forbearance to act during the present 
session, I am also sorry to say does not appear to me to be solid. I can well con- 
ceive how the weakness of your aggressor might, when he was withholding from you 
justice, form a motive for your pressing your equitable demands upon him ; I cannot 
accord in the wisdom of that policy which would wait his recovery of strength, so as 
to enable him successfully to resist those demands. Nor would it comport with the 
practice of our government heretofore. Did we not, in 1811, when the present 
monarch of Spain was an ignoble captive, and the people of the Peninsula were con- 
tending for the inestimable privilege of self-government, seize and occupy that part 
of Louisiana which is situated between the Mississippi and the Perdido ? What must 
the people of Spain think of that policy which would not spare them, and which 
■commisserates alone an unworthy prince, who ignominiously surrendered himself to 
his enemy ; a vile despot, of whom I cannot speak in appropriate language without 
departing from the respect due to this House or to myself ? What must the people 
of South America think of this sympathizing for Ferdinand, at a moment when they, 
as well as the people of the Peninsula themselves, (if we are to believe the late ac- 
counts, and God send that they may be true,) are struggling for liberty? 

Again : when we declared our late just war against Great Britain, did we wait for 
& moment when she was free from embarrassment or distress ; or did we not rathor 

65 



X. APPENDIX. 

■wisely select a period when there was the greatest probability of giving success t® 
our arms ? What was the complaint in England ; what the language of faction here f 
Was it not that we had cruelly proclaimed the war at a time when she was strug- 
gling for the liberties of the world ? How truly, let the sequel and the voice of im- 
partial history tell. 

Whilst 1 cannot, therefore, persuade myself, that the reasons assigned by the 
President for postponing the subject of our Spanish affairs until another session, are 
entitled to all the weight which he seemed to think belonged to them, I do not 
nevertheless regret that the particular project recommended by the committee of for- 
eign relations is thus to be disposed of ; for it is war — war, attempted to be disguised* 
And if we go to war, I think it should have no other limit than indemnity for th« 
past, and security for the future. I have no idea of the wisdom of that measure of 
Hostility which would bind us, whilst the other party is left free. 

Before I proceed to consider the particular propositions which the resolutions con- 
tained which 1 had the honor of submitting, it is material to determine the actual 
posture ol our relations to Spain. I consider it too clear to need discussion, that the 
treaty is at an end ; that it contains in its present state, no obligation whatever on the 
part of Spain. It is as if it had never been. We are remitted back to the state oi 
our rights and our demands which existed prior to the conclusion of the treaty, with 
this only difference, that, instead of being merged in, or weakened by the treaty, they 
have acquired all the additional force which the intervening time and the faithlessness 
of Spain can communicate to them. Standing on this position, I should not deem it 
necessary to interfere with the treaty-making power, if a fixed and persevering pur- 
pose had not been indicated by it, to obtain the revival of the treaty. Now I think it 
a bad treaty. The interest of the country, as it appears to me, forbids its renewal 
Being gone, it is perfectly incomprehensible to me why so much solicitude is mani- 
fested to restore it. Yet it is clung to with the same sort of frantic affection with 
which the bereaved mother hugs her dead infant in the vara hope of bringing it back 
to life. 

Has the House of Representatives a right to express its opinion upon the arrange- 
ment made in that treaty? The President, by asking Congress to carry it into effect, 
has given us jurisdiction of the subject, if we had it not before. We derive from that 
circumstance the right to consider, 1st, if there be a treaty ; 2dly, if we ought to 
carry it into effect ; and 3dly, if there be no treaty. It will not be contended that 
we are restricted to that specific mode of redress which the President intimated ic 
his opening message. 

The first resolution which I have presented, asserts that the constitution vests in 
the Congress of the United States the power to dispose of the territory belonging to 
them ; and that no treaty, purporting to alienate any portion thereof, is valid, without 
the concurrence of Congress. It is far from my wish to renew at large a discussion 
of the treaty-making power. The constitution of the United States has not defined 
the precise limits of that power, because from the nature of it they could not be pre- 
scribed. It appears to me, however, that no safe American statesman will assign to 
it a boundless scope. I presume for example, that it will not be contended that in a 
government which is itself limited, there is a functionary without limit. The first 
great bound to the power in question, I apprehend is, that no treaty can constitution- 
ally transcend the very objects and purposes of the government itself. I think, also, 
wherever there are specific grants of powers to Congress, they limit and control, or. 



APPENDIX. XI 

I would rather say, modify the exercise of the general grant of the treaty making 
power, upon a principle which is familiar toeVery one. 1 do not insist that the treaty 
making power cannot act upon the subjects committed to the charge of Congress. I 
contend that the concurrence of Congress in its action upon these subjects is neces- 
sary. Nor would 1 insist that the concurrence should precede that action. It would 
be always most desirable that it should precede it, if convenient, to guard against the 
commitment of Congress, on the one hand, by the executive, or on the other, what 
might seem to be a violation of the faith of the country, pledged for the ratification 
of the treaty. But 1 am perfectly aware that it will be very often highly convenient 
to deliberate, in a body so numerous as Congress, on the nature of those terms on 
which it may be proper to treat with foreign powers. In the view of the subject 
which I have been taking, there is a much higher degree of security to the interests 
of this country. For, with all respect to the President and Senate, it^-annot dispar- 
age the wisdom of their councils to add that of this House also. But, if the concur- 
rence of this House be not necessary in the cases asserted ; if there be no restriction 
upon the power I am considering, it may draw to itself and absorb the whole of the 
powers of government. To contract alliances ; to stipulate for raising troops to be 
employed in a common war about to be waged ; to grant subsidies, even to introduce 
foreign troops within the bosom of the country, are not unfrequent instances of the 
exercise of this power ; and if in all such cases the honor and faith of the nation are 
committed, by the exclusive act of the President and Senate, the melancholy dutv 
alone might be left to Congress of recording the ruin of the Republic. 

Supposing, however, that no treaty which undertakes to dispose of the territory of 
the United States is valid, without the concurrence of Congress, it may be contended 
that such treaty may constitutionally fix the limits of the territory oi the United 
States, where they are disputed, without the co-operation of Congress. I admit it, 
when the fixation of the limits simply is the object. As in the case of the river St 
Croix, or the more recent stipulation in the treaty of Ghent, or in that of the treaty 
of Spain in 1795. In all these cases the treaty-making power merely reduces to cer 
tainty that which was before unascertained. It announces the fact ; it proclaims in a 
tangible form, the existence of the boundary. It does not make a new boundary ; it 
asserts only where the old boundary was. But it cannot, under color of fixing a 
boundary previously existing, though not in fact marked, undertake to cede away, 
without the concurrence of Congress, whole provinces. If the subject be one of a 
mixed character; if it consists partly of cession, and partly of the fixation of a prior 
limit, I contend that the President must come here for the consent of Congress. But 
in the Florida treaty it was not pretended that the object was simply a declaration 
of where the western limit of Louisiana was. It was, on the contrary, the case of 
an avowed cession of territory from the United States to Spain. The whole of the 
correspondence manifest that the respective parties to the negotiation were not 
engaged so much in an inquiry where the limit of Louisiana was, as that they were 
exchanging overtures where it should be. Hence we find various limits proposed and 
discussed. At one time the Mississippi is proposed ; then the Missouri ; then a riv- 
er discharging itself into the gulf east of the Sabine. A vast desert is proposed to 
separate the territories of the two powers ; and finully the Sabine, which neither of the 
parties had ever contended was the ancient limit of Louisiana, is adopted, and the 
boundary is extended from its source by a line perfectly new and arbitrary ; and-the 
treaty itself proclaims its purpose to be a cession from the United States to Spain. 

The second resolution comprehends three propositions ; the first of which is, that 
the equivalent granted by Spain to the United States for the province of Texas is in- 



Xll- 



APPENDIX 



adequate. To determinate this it is necessary to estimate the value of what we gave 
and of what we received. This involves an inquiry into our claim to Texas. It is not 
my purpose to enter at large into this subject. I presume the spectacle will not be 
presented of questioning, in this branch of the government, our title to Texas, 
■which has been constantly maintained, by the executive for more than fifteen years 
past, under three several administrations. I am at the same time ready and prepared 
to make out our title, if any one in the House is fearless enough to controvert it. I 
will for the present, briefly state, that the man who is most familiar with the trans 
actions of this government, who largely participated in the formation of our consti. 
tution, and all that has been done under it, who, besides the eminent services that he 
has rendered his country, principally contributed to the acquisition of Louisiana, who 
must be supposed, from his various opportunities, best to know its limits, declared, 
fifteen years ago, that our title to the Rio del Norte was as well founded as it was 
to the island of New Orleans. 

[Here Mr. C. read an extract from a memoir presented in 1805, by Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinckney, to Mr. Cavelloa, 
proving that tile boundary of Louisiana extended eastward to the Perdido, and westward to the Eio del Norte, in 
which they say—" The facts and principles which justify this conclusion, are so satisfactory to their government aa 
to convince it that the United Slates hare not a better right to the island of New Orleans, under the cession referred 
to, than they have to the whole district of territory thus described."] 

The title to the Perdido on the one side, and the Rio del Norte on the other, rest 
on the same principle — the priority of discovery and of occupation by France. Spain 
had first discovered and made an establishment at Pensacola ; France at Dauphine 
island in the bay of Mobile. The intermediate space was unoccupied ; and the prin- 
ciple observed among European nations having contiguous settlement ?, being that the 
unoccupied space between them should be equally divided, was applied to it, and the 
Perdido thus became the common boundary. So, west of the Mississippi, La Salle, 
acting under France, in 16S2 or 3, first discovered that river. In 1685, he made an 
establishment on the bay of St. Bernard, west of the Colorado, emptying into it. 
The nearest Spanish settlement was Panuco, and the Rio del Norte, about the mid- 
way line, became the common boundary. 

All the accounts concur in representing Texas to be extremely valuable. Its super- 
ficial extent is three or four times greater than that of Florida. The climate is de- 
licious ; the soil fertile ; the margin of the rivers abounding in live oak ; and the 
country admitting of easy settlement. It possesses, morever, if I am not misinformed, 
one of the finest ports in the gulf of Mexico. The productions of which it is capa 
ble, are suited to our wants. The unfortunate captive of St. Helena wished for ships, 
commerce, and colonies. We have them all, if we do not wantonly throw them 
away. The colonies of other countries are separated from them by vast seas, re- 
quiring great expense to protect them, and are held subject to a constant risk of their 
being torn from their grasp. Our colonies, on the contrary are united to and form a 
part of our continent ; and the same Mississippi, from whose rich deposit, the best of 
them (Louisiana.) has beenformed,will transport on her bosom the brave, the patriotic 
men from her tributary streams, to defend and preserve the next most valuable, the 
province of Texas. 

We want Florida, or rather we shall want it ; or, to speak more correctly, we 
want nobody else to have it. We do not desire it for immediate use. It fills a 
space in our imagination, and we wish it to complete the arrondissement of our ter- 
ritory. It must certainly come to us. The ripened fruit will not more surely fall- 
Florida is closed in between Alabama and Georgia, and cannot escape. Texas 



APPENDIX. Xill 

may. Whether we get Florida now, or some five or ten years hence, it is of no 
consequence, provided no other power gets it ; and if any other should attempt to 
take it, an existing act of Congress authorises the President to prevent it. I am not 
disposed to disparage Florida, but its intrinsic value is incomparably less than that 
of Texas. Almost its sole value is military. The possession of it would undoubt- 
edly communicate some additional security to Louisiana, and to the American 
commerce in the gult of Mexico. But it is not very essential to have it for protec- 
tion to Georgia and Alabama. There can be no attack upon either of them, by a 
foreign power, on the side of Florida. It now covers those States. Annexed to the 
United States, and we should have to extend our line of defence so as to embrace 
Florida. Far from being, therefore, a source of immediate profit, it would be the 
occasion of considerable immediate expense. The acquisition of it is certainly a 
fair object of our policy, and ought never to be lost sight of. It is even a laudable 
ambition in any chief magistrate to endeavor to illustrate the epoch of his adminis- 
tration, by such an acquisition. It is less necessay, however, to fill the measure 
of honors of the present chief magistrate, than that of any other man, in conse- 
quence of the large share which he had in obtaining all Louisiana. But, whoever 
may deserve the renown which may attend the incorporation of Florida into our 
confederacy, it is our business, as the representatives of that people, who are to pay 
the price of it, to take care, as far as we constitutionally can, that too much is not 
given. I would not give give Texas for Florida in a naked exchange. We are 
bound by the treaty to give not merely Texas, but five millions of dollars, also, and 
the excess beyond that sum of all our claims upon Spain, which have been variously 
estimated at from fifteen to twenty millions of dollars ! 

The public is not generally apprized of another large consideration which passed 
from us to Spain, if an interpretation which I have heard given to the treaty is just, 
and it certainly is plausible. Subsequent to the transfer, but b< fore the delivery of 
Louisiana from Spain to France, the then governor of New Orleans (I believe his 
name was Gayoso,) made a number of concessions upon the payment of an incon- 
siderable pecuniary consideration, amounting to between nine hundred thousand and 
a million acres of land, similar to those made at Madrid to the royal favorites. This 
land is situated in Feliciana, and between the Mississippi and the Amite, in the 
present State of Louisiana. It was granted to persons who possessed the very best 
information of the country, and is no doubt, therefore, the choice land. The Uni- 
ted States have never recognized, but have constantly denied the validity of these 
concessions. It is contended by the parties concerned, that they are confirmed by 
the late treaty. By the second article, his Catholic majesty cedes to the United 
States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to him, 
situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and Wctt 
Florida. And by the eighth article, all grants of land made before the twenty-fourth 
January, 1818, by his Catholic majesty, or by his lawful authorities, shall be ratified 
and confirmed, &c. Now the grants in question having been made long prior to 
that day, are supposed to be confirmed. I understand from a person interested, 
that Don Onis had assured him it was his intention to confirm them. Whether the 
American negotiator has the same intention or not, I do not know. It will not bo 
pretended that the letter of Mr. Adams, of the 12th March, 1818, in which he 
declines to treat any further with respect to any part of the territory included within 
the limits of the State of Louisiana, can control the operation of the subsequent 
treaty. That treaty must be interpreted by what is in it, and not by what is out of 
it. The overtures which passed between the parties respectively, prior to the con- 
clusion of the treaty, can neither restrict nor enlarge its meaning. Moreover, when 
Mr. Madison occupied, in 1811, the country between the Mississippi and the Perdido. 



XIV. APPENDIX. 

he declared, that, in oar hands it should be, as it haa been, subject to negotiation. 
It results, then, that we have given for Florida, charged and encumbered as it is: 

1st, Unincumbered Texas. 

2d, Five millions of dollars. 

3d, A surrender of all our claims upon Spain, not included in that five millions j 
and, 

4th, If the interpretation of the treaty which I have stated is well founded, 
about a million acres of the best unseated land in the State of Louisiana, worth per- 
haps ten millions of dollars. 

The first proposition contained in the second resolution is thus, I think, fully sus- 
tained. The next is, that it is inexpedient to cede Texas to any foreign power. 
They constitute, in my opinion, a sacred inheritance of posterity, which we ought 
to preserved unimpaired. I wish it was, if it is not, a fundamental and inviolable 
law of the land, that they should be inalienable to any foreign power. It is quite 
evident that it is in the order of Providence ; that it is an inevitable result of the 
principle of population, that the whole of this continent, including Texas, is to be 
peopled in process of time. The question is, by whose race shall it be peopled 1 In 
our hands it will be peopled by freemen and the sons of freemen, carrying with 
them our language, our laws, and our liberties ; establishing on the prairies of 
Texas temples dedicated to the simple and devout modes of worship of God incident 
to our religion, and temples dedicated to that freedom which we adore next to Him. 
In the hands of others, it may become the habitation of despotism and of slaves, 
subject to the vile dominion of the Inquisition and of superstition. I know that 
there are honest and enlightened men who fear that our confederacy is already too 
large, and that there is danger of disruption, arising out of want of reciprocal adhe- 
rence between its several parts. I hope and believe that the principle of representa- 
tion, and the formation of States, will preserve us a united people. But if Texas, 
after being peopled by us, and grappling with us, should, at some distant day, break 
off, she will carry along with her a noble crew, consisting of our children's children. 
The difference between those who may be disinclined to its annexation to our con- 
federacy, and me, is, that their system begins where mine may, possibly, in some 
distant future day, terminate ; and theirs begins with a foreign race, aliens to every- 
thing that we hold dear, and mine ends with a race partaking of all our qualities. 

The last proposition which the second resolution affirms, is, that it is inexpedient 
to renew the treaty. If Spain had promptly ratified it, bad as it it, I would have ac- 
quiesced in it. After the protracted negotiation which it terminated ; after the irri- 
tating and exasperating correspondence which preceded it ; 1 would have taken the 
treaty as a man who has passed a long and restless night, turning and tossing in his 
bed, snatches at day an hour's disturbed repose. But she would not ratify it ; and 
she has liberated us from it. Is it wise to renew the negotiation, if it is to be re- 
commenced, by announcing to her at once our ultimatum 1 Shall we not give her 
the vantage ground 1 In early life I have sometimes indulged in a species of amuse- 
ment, which years and experience has determined me to renounce, which, if the 
committeo will allow me to use it, furnishes me with a figure — shall we enter on 
the game, with our hand exposed to the adversary, whilst he shuffles the cards to 
acquire more strength 1 ? What has lost us his ratification of the treaty 1 Incontes- 
tably our importunity to procure the ratification, and the hopes which that importu- 



APPENDIX. 

nity inspired, that he could yet obtain more from us. Let us undeceive him. Let 
us proclaim the acknowledged truth, that the treaty is prejudicial to the interests of 
this country. Are we not told, by the Secretary of State, in the bold and confident 
assertion, that Don Onis was authorized to grant us much more, and that Spain dare 
not deny his instructions 1 The line of demarcation is/ar within his limits. If she 
would have then granted us more, is her position now more favorable to her in the 
negotiation 1 In our relations to foreign powers, it may be sometimes politic to 
sacrifice a portion of our rights to secure the residue. But is Spain such a power, as 
that it becomes us to sacrifice those rights 1 Is she entitled to it by her justice, by 
her observance of good faith, or by her possible annoyance of us in the event of war"? 
She will seek, as she has sought, procrastination in the negotiation, taking the treaty 
as the basis. She will dare to offend us, as she has insulted us, by asking the dis 
graceful stipulation that we should not recognize the patriots. Let as put aside the 
treaty ; tell her to grant us our rights, to their uttermost extent. And if she still 
palters, let us assert those rights by whatever measures it is for the interest of the 
country to adopt 

If the treaty is abandoned ; if we arc not on the contrary signified, too distinctly, 
that there is to be a continued and unremitting endeavor to obtain its revival, I 
would not think it advisable for this House to interpose. But, with all the informa- 
tion in our possession, and holding the opinions which I entertain, I think it the 
bounden duty of the House to adopt the resolutions. I have acquitted myself of 
what I deem a solemn duty, in bringing up the subject. Others will discharge theirs 
according to their own sense of them. 



ON THE MISSION TO SOUTH AMERICA. 

In the House or Representatives, March 28, IS20. 

[Tbi House having ngaiu resolved itself mlo a Committee of the Whole on the general appropriation bill, to -a-hish 
Kb. €iil moved nn amendment, going to make an appropriation for the oulfU and a year's salary ot « Minister 
to Buenos Ayrcs.] 

The first objection which I think it incumbent on me to notice is that of my friend 
from South Carolina, (Mr. Lowndes) who opposed the form of the proposition, as 
being made on a general appropriation bill, on which he appeared to think nothing: 
ought to be engrafted which was likely to give rise to a difference between the two 
branches of the legislature. If the gentlemen himself had always acted on this 
principle, his objection would be entitled to more weight ; but, the item in the appro- 
priation bill next following this, and reported by the gentlemen himself, is infinite- 
ly more objectionable — which is, an appropriation of thirty thousand d< liars for de- 
fraying the expenses of three commissioners, appointed, or proposed to Le paid, in 
an unconstitutional form. It cannot be expected that a genera] appropriation bill 
will ever pass without some disputable clauses, and in case oi a difli rence between 
the two Utilises (a difference which we hive no right to anticipate in this instance) 
which cannot be compromised as to an; irtii le, the obvious course i.-* to omit such 



XVI. APPEIMD1A. 

article altogether, retaining all the others— and, in a case of this character, relative 
to brevet pay, which has occurred during the present session, such has been the 
ground the gentleman himself has taken in a conference with the Senate, of which ho 
is a manager. 

The gentleman from South Carolina, has professed to concur with me in a great 
many of his general propositions ; and neither he nor any other gentleman has dis- 
agreed with me, that the mere recognition of the independence of the provinces is no 
cause of war with Spain— except the gentleman from Maryland, (Mr. Smith) to 
whom I recommend, without intending disrespect to him, to confine himself to the 
operation of commerce, rather than undertake to expound questions of public law; 
for I can assure the gentleman, that although he may make some figure, with his 
practical knowledge, in the one case, he will not in the other. No man, except the 
gentleman from Maryland, has had what I should call the hardihood to con- 
tend that, on the ground of principle and mere public law, the exercise of the right 
of recognizing another power is cause of war. But though the gentleman from 
South Carolina admitted, that the recognition would be no cause of war, and that it 
was not likely lead to a war with Spain, we find him, shortly after, getting into a war 
with Spain, how, 1 do not see, and by some means, which he did not deign to discover 
to us, getting us into a war with England also. Having satisfied himself, by this 
course of reasoning, the gentleman has discovered, that the finances of Spain are in 
a most favorable condition ! On this part of the subject, it is not necessary for me 
to say any thing after what the committee has heard from the eloquent gentleman 
from Massachusetts, (Mr. Holmes) whose voice, in a period infinitely more critical 
in our affairs than the present, has been heard with so much delight from the east in 
support of the rights and honor of the country. He lias clearly shown, that there is 
no parallel between the state of Spam and of this country— the one of a country whose 
resources are completely impoverished and exhausted ;' the other of a country whos»2 
resources are almost untouched. But, I would ask of the gentleman from South 
Carolina, if he can conceive that a state, in the condition of Spain, whose Minister of 
the Treasury admits that the people have no longer the means of paying new taxes— 
a nation with an immense mass of floating debt, and totally without credit, can 
feel any anxiety to engage in a war with a nation like this, whose situation is, in 
every possible view, directly the reverse 2 I ask, if an annual revenue, equal 
only to five-eights of the annual expenditure, exhibits a financial ability to enter 
upon a new war, when, too, the situation of Spain is altogether unlike that of the 
United States and England, whose credit, resting upon a solid basis, enables them to 
supply, by loans, any deficit in the income 2 

Notwithstanding the diversity of sentiment which has been displayed during the 
debate, I am happy to find that, with one exception, every member has done jus- 
tice to the struggle in the South, and admitted it to be entitled to the favor of the 
best feelings of the human heart. Even my honorable friend near me (Mr. Nelson) 
has made a speech on our side, and we should not have found out, if he had not 
' told us, that he would vote against us. Although his speech has been distinguished 
by his accustomed eloquence, I should be glad to agree on a cartel with the gentle- 
men on the other side of the House, to give them his speech for his vote. The gen- 
tleman says his heart is with us, that he ardently desires the independence of the 
South. Will he excuse me for telling him, that if he will give himself up to the 
honest feelings of his heart, he will have a much surer guide than by trusting to hia 
head, to which, however, 1 am far from offering any disparagement 1 



APPENDIX. XVU. 

But, sir, it seems that a division of the republican party is about to be made by 
the proposition. Who is to furnish, in this respect, the correct criterion ; whose 
conduct is to be the standard of orthodoxy 1 What has been the great principle 
of the party to which the gentleman from Virginia refers, from the first existence of 
the government to the present day 1 An attachment to liberty, a devotion to the 
great cause of humanity, of freedom, of self-government, and of equal rights. If 
there is to be a division, as the gentleman says ; if he is going to leave us, who are 
following the old track, he may, in his new connexions, find a great variety of 
company, which, perhaps, may indemnify him for the loss of his old friends. What 
is the great principle that has distinguished parties in all ages and under all govern- 
ments—democrats and federalists, whigs and tories, plebeians and patricians 1 The 
one, distrustful of human nature, appreciates less the influence of reason and of good 
dispositions, and appeals more to physical force ; the other party, confiding in hu- 
man nature, relies much upon moral power, and applies to force as an auxiliary 
only to the operations of reason. All the modifications and denominations of po- 
litical parties and sects may be traced to this fundamental distinction. It is that 
which separated the two great parties in this country. If there is to be a division 
in the republican party, I glory that I, at least, am found among those who are anx- 
ious for the advancement of human rights and of human liberty : and the honorable 
gentleman who spoke of appealing to the public sentiment, will find, when he does 
so, or I am much mistaken, that public sentiment is also on the side of public liberty 
and of hnman happiness. 

But the gentleman from South Carolina has told us, that the constitution has 
wisely confided to the executive branch of the government, the administration of 
the foreign interests of the country. Has the honorable gnntleman attempted to 
show, though his proposition be generally true, and will never be controverted by 
me, that we also have not our participation in the administration of the foreign 
concerns of the country, when we are called upon in our legislative capacity, to 
defray the expenses of foreign missions, or to regulate commerce 1 I stated, when 
up before, and I have listened in vain for an answer to the argument, that no part 
of the constitution says which shall have the precedence, the act of making the ap- 
propriation for paying a minister, or the act of sending one. I have contended, 
and now repeat, that either the acts of deputing and of paying a minister should be 
simultaneous, or, if either has the preference, the act of appropriating his pay should 
precede the sending of a minister. I challenge gentlemen to show me anything in 
the constitution which directs that a minister shall be sent before his payment is 
provided for. I repeat, what I said the other day, that, by sending a minister 
abroad, during the recess, to nations between whom and us no such relations ex- 
isted as to justify incurring the expense, the legislative opinion is forestalled, or 
unduly biased. I appeal to the practice of the government, and refer to various 
acts of Congress for cases of appropriations, without the previous deputation of the 
agent abroad, and without the preliminary of a message from the President, asking 
for them. 

[Mr. Ci.at here quoted the act, authorizing the establishment of eertaiu consulates in the Mediterranean, and 
•ffixine; salaries thereto, in consequence of which the President had subsequently appointed consuls, who had been 
receiving their salaries to this day.) 

From these it appears that Congress has constantly pursued the great principle of 
the theory of the constitution, for which I now contend— that each department of 
the government must act within its own sphere, independently, and on its own re- 
sponsibility. It Is a little extraordinary, indeed, after the doctrine which was main- 



XV1U. APPENDIX. 

tained the other day, of a sweeping right in Congress to appropriate money to any 
object, that it should now be contended that Congress has no right to appropriate 
money to a particular object. The gentlemen's (Mr. Lowndes) doctrine is broad, 
comprehending every case ; but, when proposed to be exemplified in any specific 
case, it does not apply. My theory of the constitution, on this particular subject is, 
that Congress has the right of appropriating money for foreign missions, the Presi- 
dent the power to use it. The President having the power, I am willing to say to 
him, " here is the money, which we alone have a right to appropriate, which will 
enable you to carry your power into effect, if it seems expedient to you." Both 
being before him, the power and the means of executing it, the President would 
judge, on his own responsibility, whether or not it was expedient to exercise it. In 
this course, each department of the government would act independantly, without 
influence from, and without interference with, the other. I have stated cases, from 
the statute book, to show, that, in instances where no foreign agent has been ap- 
pointed, but only a possibility of their being appointed, appropropriations have been 
made for paying them. Even in the case of the subject matter of negotiation, (a 
right much more important than that of sending an agent) an appropriation of money 
has preceded the negotiation of a treaty. Thus, in the third volume of the new 
edition of the laws, page twenty-seven, a case of an appropriation of twenty-five 
thousand eight hundred and eighty dollars to defray the expense of such treaties as 
the President of the United States might deem proper to make with certain Indian 
tribes. An act, which has been lately referred to, appropriating two millions for the 
purchase of Florida, is a case still more strongly in point, as contemplating a treaty, 
not with a savage, but a civilized power. In this case, there may have been, 
though I believe there was not, an executive message, recommending the appropria- 
tion ; but I take upon myself to assert, that, in almost all the cases I have quoted, 
there was no previous executive intimation that the appropriation of the money was 
necessary to the object — but Congress has taken up the subjects, and authorized 
these appropriations, without any official call from the executive to do so. 

With regard to the general condition of the provinces now in revolt against the 
parent country, I will not take up much of the time of the House. Gentlemen are, 
however, much mistaken as to many of the points of their history, geography, com- 
merce and produce, which have been touched upon. Gentlemen have supposed there 
would be from those countries a considerable competition of the same products which 
we export. I venture to say that, in regard to Mexico, there can be no such compe- 
tition ; that the table lands are at such a distance from the sea-shore, and the diffi- 
culty of reaching it is so great as to make the transportation to La Vera Cruz too 
expensive to be borne, and the heat so intense as to destroy the bread stuffs as soon 
as they arrive. With respect to New Grenada, the gentleman from Maryland is en- 
tirely mistaken. It is the elevation of Mexico, principally, which enables it to pro- 
duce bread stuffs ; but New Grenada, lying nearly under the line, cannot produce 
them. The productions of New Grenada for exportation are, the precious metals_ 
(of which, of gold particularly, a greater portion is to be found than in any of the 
provinces except Mexico,) sugar, coffee, cocoa, and some other articles of a simila: 
character. Of Venezuela the principle productions are, coffee, cocoa, indigo, anc 
some sugar. Sugar is also produced in all the Guianas, French, Spanish, and Butch 
The interior of the provinces of La Plata maybe productive of bread stuffs, but the] 
are too remote to come into competition with us in the West India market, the voy 
ages to the United States generally occupying from fifty to sixty days, and some 
times as long as ninety days. By deducting from that number the average passag< 
from the United States to the West Indies, the length of the usual passage betw«« 



APPENDIX. XIX. 

Bueuos Ayres and the West Indies, will be found and will show that, in tlie supply 
of the West India market with bread stuffs, the provinces can never come seriously 
mto competition with us- And in regard to Chili, productive as it may be, does the 
gentleman from Maryland suppose that vessels are going to double Cape Horn and 
come into competition with us in the West Indies ? It is impossible. But I feel a 
reluctance at pursuing the discussion of this part of the question ; because I am surf 
these are considerations on which the House cannot act, being entirely unworthy ot 
the subject. We may as well stop all our intercourse with England, with France, 
or with the Baltic, whose products are in many respects the same as ours, as to act 
on the present occasion under the influence of any such considerations. It is too 
selfish, too mean a principle for this body to act on, to refuse its sympathy for the 
patriots of the South, because some little advantage of a commercial nature may be 
retained to us from their remaining in the present condition, which, however, I total, 
lydeny. Three-fourths of the productions of the Spanish provinces are the precious 
metals, and the greater part of the residue not of the same character as the staple 
productions of our soil. But it seems that a pamphlet has recently been published on 
this subject to which gentlemen have referred. Now permit me to express a distrust 
of all pamphlets of this kind unless we know their source. It may, for aught I 
know, if not composed at the instance of the Spanish minister, have been written by 
some merchant who has a privilege of trading to Lima under royal license ; for such 
do exist, as I am informed, and some of them procured under the agency of a cele- 
brated person by the name of Sarmiento, of whom perhaps the gentleman from Ma- 
ryland (Mr. Smith) can give the House some information. To gentlemen thus privi- 
leged to trade with the Spanish provinces under royal authority, the effect of a re- 
cognition of the independence of the provinces would be to deprive them of that mo- 
nopoly. The reputed author of the pamphlet in question, if I understand correctly, 
is one who has been, if he is not now deeply engaged in the trade, and I will venture 
to saythat many of his statements are incorrect. In relation to the trade of Mexico, 
I happen to possess the Royal Gazette of Mexico of 1804, showing what was the 
trade of that province in 1803 ; from which it appears that, without making allow 
ance for the trade from the Philippine Islands to Acapuleo, the imports into the port 
of Vera Cruz were in that year twenty-two millions in value, exclusive of contraband, 
the amount of which was very considerable. Among these articles were many which 
the United States could supply as well, if not on better terms, thin they could be 
supplied from any other quarter ; for example brandy and spirits, paper, iron, imple- 
ments for agriculture and the mines ; wax, spices, naval stores, salt fish, butter, pro- 
visions ; these articles amounting in the whole to one-seventh part of the whole im- 
port trade to Mexico. With regard to the independence of that country, which gen- 
tlemen seemed to think improbable, I rejoice that I am able to congratulate the 
House that we have this morning intelligence that Mina yet lives, and the patriot 
flag is still unfurled, and the cause infinitely more prosperous than ever. This intel- 
ligence I am in hopes will prove true, notwithstanding the particular accounts of his 
death, which there is so much of fabrication and falsehood in the Spanish practice, 
are not entitled to credit unless corroborated by other information. Articles are 
manufactured in one province to produce effect on other provinces, and in this coun- 
try ; and I am, therefore, disposed to think that the details respecting the capture 
and execution of Mina, are too minute to be true, and were made up to produce an 
effect here. 

With regard to the general value of the trade of a country, it is to be determined 
by the quantum of its population, and its character, its productions, and the extent 
and character of the territory; and applying these critera to Spanish America, n» 



XX- APPENDIX. 

nation offers higher inducements to commercial enterprize. Washed on the one side by 
the Pacific, on the other by the South Atlantic, standing between Africa and Europe 
on the one hand, and Asia on the other, lying along side of the United States ; her 
commerce must, when free from the restraints of despotism, be immensely important ; 
particularly when it is recollected how great a proportion of the precious metals it 
produces— for that nation which can command the precious metals, may be said to 
command almost the resources of the world. For one moment, imagine the mines 
of the South locked up from Great Britain for two years, what would be the effect on 
her paper system? Bankruptcy, explosion, revolution. Even if the supply which 
we get abroad of the precious metals was cut off for any length of time, I ask if the 
effect on our paper system would not be, not perhaps equally as fatal as to England, 
yet one of the greatest calamities which could befall this country. The revenue ot 
Spain in Mexico alone, was in 1809, twenty millions of dollars, and in the other 
provinces in about the same proportion, taking into view their population, indepen- 
dent of the immense contributions annually paid to the clergy. When you look at 
the resources of the country, and the extent of its population, recollecting that it is 
double our own ; that its consumption of foreign articles, under a free commerce 
would be proportionably great ; that it yields a large revenue under the most abom- 
inable system, under which nearly three-fourths of the population are unclad, and 
almost naked as from the hands of nature, because absolutely deprived of the means 
of clothing themselves, what may not be the condition of this country, under the 
operation of a different system which would let industry develope its resources in all 
possible forms ? Such a neighbor cannot but be a valuable acquisition in a commercial 
point of view. 

Gentlemen have denied the fact of the existence of the independence of Buenos Ayres 
at as early a date as 1 have assigned to it. The gentleman from South Carolina, 
who is well informed on the subject, has not, I think, exhibited his usual candor on 
this part of it. When the gentleman talked of the Upper Provinces being out of the 
possession of the patriots as late as 1S15, he ought to have gone back and told the 
House what was the actual state of the fact, with which I am sure the gentleman is 
very well acquainted. In 1811, the government of Buenos Ayres had been in posses- 
sion of every foot of the territory of the Vice Royalty. The war has been raging 
from 1S11 to 1814 in those interior provinces, bordering on Lima, which have been as 
often as three times conquered by the enemy, and as often recovered, and from 
which the enemy is now finally expelled. Is this at all remarkable during the pro 
gress of such a revolution ? During the different periods of our war of independence, 
the British had possession of different parts of our country ; as late as 17S0, the 
whole of the southern States were in their possession ; and at an earlier date they 
had possession of the great northern capitals. There is in regard to Buenos Ayres, 
a distinguishing trait, which does not exist in the history of our revolution. That is, 
that from 1810 to the present day, the capital of the Republic of La Plata has been in- 
variably in the possession of the patriot government. Gentlemen must admit that 
when, in 1814, she captured at Monte Video an army as large as Burgoyne's captured 
at Saratoga, they were then in possession of independence. If they have been 
since 1810 in the enjoyment of self-government, it is, indeed, not very material under 
what name or under what form. The fact of their independence is all that is neces- 
sary to be established. In reply to the argument of the gentleman from South Caro- 
lina, derived from his having been unable to find out the number of the provinces, 
this arose from the circumstance that, thirty-six years ago, the Vice Royalty had been 
a Captain Generalship ; that it extended then only to Tucuman, whilst of late and at 
present the government extends to Desaguedera, in about the sixteenth degree of 



APPENDIX. XXI. 

south latitude. There are other reasons why there is some confusion in the num- 
ber of the provinces, as stated by different writers ; there is, in the first place, a ter- 
ritorial division of the country — then a judicial, and next a military division, and the 
provinces have been stated at ten, thirteen, or twenty, according to the denomina- 
tions used. This, however, with the gentleman from South Carolina, I regard as a 
fact of no sort of consequence. 

I will pass over the report lately made to the House by the department of State, 
respecting the state of South America, with only one remark ; that it appears to me 
to exhibit evidence of an adroit and experienced diplomatist, negotiating, or rather 
conferring on a subject with a young and inexperienced minister, from a young and 
inexperienced Republic. From the manner in which this report was communicated, 
after a call for information so long made, and after a lapse of two months from the 
last date in the correspondence on the subject, I was mortified at hearing the report 
read. Why talk of the mode of recognition? Why make objections to the form of 
the commission? If the minister has not a formal power, why not tell him to send 
back for one ? Why ask of him to enumerate the particular States whose indepen- 
dence he wished acknowledged ? Suppose the French minister had asked of Frank- 
lin what number of States he represented ? Thirteen, if you please, Franklin would 
have replied. But Mr. Franklin will you tell me if Pennsylvania, whose capi- 
tal is in possession of the British, be one of them? What would Dr. Franklin have 
said? It would have comported better with the frankness of the American charac- 
ter, and of American diplomacy, if the Secretary, avoiding cavils about the form of 
the commission, had said to the minister of Buenos Ayres, ;< At the present moment 
we do not intend to recognise you, or to receive or send a minister to you." 

But among the charges which gentlemen have industriously brought together, the 
House has been told of factions prevailing in Buenos Ayres. Do not factions exist 
everywhere 2 Are they not to be found in the best regulated and most firmly estab- 
lished gavemments ? Respecting the Carrels, public information is abused ; they 
were suppo.-ed to have had improper views, designs hostile to the existing govern- 
ment, and it became necessary to deprive them of the power of doing mischief. And 
what is the fact respecting the alleged arrest of American citizens ? Buenos Ayres 
has been organizing an army to attack Chili. Can-era arrives at the river La Plata 
with some North Americans; he had before defeated the revolution in Chili, by 
withholding his co-operation : the government of Buenos Ayres therefore said to 
him, We do in t want your resources; our own army is operating; if you carry yours 
there, it. may i roduce dissension, and cause the loss of liberty — you shall not go. On 
his opposing this course, what was done which has called forth the sympathy of 
»entlem-r. ? He and those who attended him from this country were put in confine- 
ment, but only long enough to permit the operations of the Buenos Ayrean army to 
go on ; they were then permitted to go, or made their escape to Montevideo, and af- 
terwards where '.hey pleased- With respect to the conduct of that government, I 
would only recail the attention of gentlemen to the orders which have lately ema- 
nated from it, for the regulation of privateers, which has displayed a solicitude to 
guard again*! irregularity, and to respect the rights of neutrals, not inferior to that 
ever shown by any government, which has on any occasion attempted to regulate 
this licentious mode of warfare. 

' The honorable gentleman from Georgia commenced his remarks the other day by 
an animadvesion which he might well have spared, when he told us that even the 
prayers of the chaplain of this House had been offered up in behalf of the patriots. 






XXII. APPENDIX. 

And was it reprehensible, that an American chaplain, whose cheeks are furrowed 
ky age, and his head as white as snow, who has a theusand times, during our 
own revolution, implored the smiles of heaven on our exertions — should indulge in 
the pious and patriotic feelings flowing from his recollections of our own revolu- 
tion? Ought he to be subject to animadversion for so doing, in a place where he 
cannot be heard ? Ought he to be subject to adimadversion for soliciting the favor 
of heaven on the same cause as that in which we fought the good fight, and con- 
quered our independence ? I trust not. 

But the gentleman from Georgia, it appears, can see no parallel between our revo- 
lution, and that of the Spanish provinces. Their revolution, in its commencement, 
did not aim at complete independence, neither did ours. Such is the loyalty of the 
Creole character, that, although groaning under three hundred years of tyranny and 
oppression, they have been unwilling to cast off their allegiance to that throne, 
which has been the throne of their ancestors. But, looking forward to a redress of 
wrongs, rather than a change of government, they gradually, and perhaps at first 
unintentionally, entered into a revolution. I have it from those who have been ac- 
tively engaged in our revolution, from that venerable man, (Chancellor Wythe) 
whose memory I shall ever cherish with filial regard, that a very short time before 
our Declaration of Independence, it would have been impossible to have got a ma 
jority of Congress to declare it. Look at the language of our petitions of that day, 
carrying our loyalty to the foot of the throne, and avowing our anxiety to remain 
under the crown of our ancestors ; independence was then not even remotely sug- 
gested as our object. 

The present state of facts, and not what has passed and gone in South America, 
must be consulted. At the present moment, the patriots of the South are fighting 
ior liberty and independence ; for precisely what we fought. But their revolution, 
the gentleman told the House, was stained by scenes which had not occurred in ours. 
If so, it was because execrable outrages had been committed upon them by troops 
of the mother country, which were not upon us. Can it be believed, if the slaves 
had been let loose upon us in the South, as they have been let loose in Venezuela; 
if quarters had been refused ; capitulations violated ; that General Washington, at 
the head of the armies of the United States, would not have resorted to retribution ? 
Retaliation is sometimes mercy ; mercy to both parties. The only means by which 
the coward soul that indulges in such enormities, can be reached, is to show to him 
that they will be visited by severe but just retribution. There are traits in the his- 
tory of this revolution, which show what deep root liberty has taken in South Ame- 
rica. I will state an instance. The only hope of a wealthy and reputable family 
was charged, at the head of a small force, with the care of the magazine of the 
army. He saw that it was impossible to defend it. " Go," said he to his compan- 
ions in arms, " I alone am sufficient for its defence." The assailants approached ; 
he applied a match and blew up the magazine, with himself, scattering death and 
destruction on his enemy. There is another instance of the intrepidity of a female 
of the patriot party. A lady in New Granada, had given information to the patriot 
forces of plans and instructions by which the capitol might be invaded. She was 
put upon the rack to divulge her accomplices. She bore the torture with the great- 
est fortitude, and died exclaiming, " You shall not hear it from my mouth ; I will 
die, and may those live who can free my country." 

But the House has been asked, and asked with a triumph worthy of a better 
cause — why recognize this Republic 1 Where is the use of it 1 And is it possible 
lhat gentlemen can see no use in recogn'udng this Republic 1 For what did this Re- 



APFEKOTX. XXI11. 

public fight 1 To be admitted into the !'; tnily ©f nations. Tell the nations of the 
Avorld, says Pueyrredon, in his speech, that we already belong to their illustrious 
rank. What would be the powerful consequences of a recognition of their claim 1 
I ask my honorable friend before me, (General Bloomfield) the highest sanction of 
whose judgment in favor of my proposition, I fondly anticipate, with what anxious 
solicitude, during our revolution, he and his glorious compatriots turned their eyes 
to Europe, and asked to be recognized I I ask him, the patriot of 76, how the heart 
rebounded with joy, on the information that France had recognized us. The moral 
influence of such a recognition on the patriot of the South, will be irresistible. He 
will derive assurance from it of his not having fought in vain. In the constitution 
of our natures there is a point, to which adversity may pursue us, without perhaps 
any worse effect than that of exciting new energy to meet it. Having reached that 
point, if no gleam of comfort breaks through the gloom, we sink Leneath the pres- 
sure, yielding reluctantly to our fate, and in hopeless despair lose all stimulus to 
exertion. And is there not reason to fear such a fate to the patriots of La Plata 1 
Already enjoying independence for eight years, their ministers are yet spurned from 
the courts of Europe, and rejected by the government of a sister Republic. Contrast 
this conduct of ours with our conduct in other respects. No matter whence the 
minister comes, be it from a despotic power, we receive him ; and even now, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Smith) would have us send a minister to Constan- 
tinople, to beg a passage through the Dardanelles to the Black Sea, that, I suppose, 
we might get some hemp and bread-stuffs there, of which we ourselves produce 
none— he who can see no advantage to the country from opening to its commerce 
the measurless resources of South America, would send a minister to Constantino- 
ple for a little trade. Nay, I have seen a project in the newspapers, and I should 
not be surprised, after what we have already seen, at its being carried into effect, 
for sending a minister to the Porte. Yes, sir, from Constantinople, or from the Bra- 
zils ; from Turk or Christian ; from black or white ; from the Dey of Algiers or 
theB^y of Tunis— from the Devil himself, if he wore a crown, we should receive a 
minister. We even paid the expenses of the minister of hjs sublime highness the 
Bey of Tunis, and thought ourselves highly honored by his visit. But, let the min- 
ister come from a poor Republic, like that of La Plata, and we turn our back on him. 
The brilliant costumes of the ministers of the royal governments, are seen glisten- 
ing in the; circles of our drawing-rooms, and their splendid equipages rolling through 
the avenues of the metropolis; but the unaccredited minister of the Republic, if he 
visit our President or Secretary of Stale at all, must do it incog, lest the eye of Don 
Onis should be offended by so unseemly a sight ! I hope the gentleman from South 
Carolina, who is so capable of estimatii? the etlVct of moral causes, will see some 
use in recognizing the independence of La Plata. I appeal to the powerful effect 
of moral causes, manifested in the case of the Freneii revolution, when, by their 
influence, that nation swept from about her the armies of the combined powers, by 
which she was environed, and rose up the collossal power of Europe. There is an 
example of the effect of moral power. All the patriots ask, all they want at our 
hands, is to be recognized as, what they have been for the last eight years, an inde- 
pendant power. 

But, it seems, we dare not do this, lest we tread on sacred ground : and an hon- 
orable gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Smyth) who, when he has been a little lon- 
ger in this House, will learn to respect its powers, calls it an usurpation on the part 
of this House. Has the gentleman weigh I .' terms which he employed 1 ! If T 
mistak" not, the gentleman, in the debate respecting the power to make internal 
improvements, called that too an usurpation on the part of this House. That power, 
too. however he admitted to belong to the executive, and trace*! it Ut a» imperial 



XXIV. APPENDIX. 

source, informing us that Caesar or somebody else, had exercised it. Sir, the gen- 
tleman has mistaken his position here : he is a military chieftain, and an admira- 
ble defender of executive authority, but he has yet to learn his horn-book as to the 
powers of this branch of the legislature. Usurpation is arrogating to yourself au- 
thority which is vested elsewhere. But what is it that I propose, to which this 
term has been applied 1 To appropriate money to pay a foreign minister his outfit 
and a year's salary. If that be an usurpation, we have been usurping power from 
the commencement of the government to the present time. The chairman of the 
Committee of Ways and Means has never reported an appropriation bill withou: 
some instance of this usurpation. 

There are three modes under our constitution, in which a nation may be recog- 
nized : by the executive receiving a minister ; secondly, by its sending one thither ; 
and, thirdly, this House unquestionably has the right to recognize, in the exercise of 
the constitutional power of Congress to regulate foreign commerce. To receive a 
minister from a foreign power is an admission that the party sending him is sover- 
eign and independent. So the sending a minister, as ministers are never sent but to 
sovereign powers, is a recognition of the independence of the power to whom the 
minister is sent. Now, the honorable gentleman from South Carolina would prefer 
the expression of our opinion by a resolution, independent of the appropriation bill. 
If the gentleman will vote for it in that shape, I will readily gratify him ; all that I want 
to do is to convey to the President an expression of our willingness, that the govern- 
ment of Beunos Ayres should be recognized. Whether it shall be done by receiving 
a minister or sending one, is quite immaterial. It is urged that there may be an im- 
propriety in sending a minister, not being certain, after what has passed, that he 
will be received ; but that is one of the questions submitted to the direction of the 
executive, which he will determine, upon a view of all the circumstances, and 
who of course will previously have an understanding that our minister will be 
duly respected. If gentleman desire to know what a minister from us is to do, I 
would have him congratulate the Republic on the establishment of free government 
and on their liberation from the ancient dynasty of Spain ; assure it of the interest we 
feel in its welfare, and of our readiness to concur in any arrangement which may be 
advantageous to our mutual interest. Have we not a minister at the Brazils, a nation 
lying along side of the provinces of La Plata, and considering the number of slaves 
in it, by no means so formidable as the latter, and about equi-distant from us. In 
reference to the strength of the two powers, that of La Plata is much stronger, and 
the government of Brazils, trembling under the apprehension of the effect of the 
arms of La Plata, has gone farther than any other power to recognize its indepen- 
dence, having entered into a military convention with the Republic, by which each 
power guarantees the possessions of the other. And we have exchanged ministers 
with the Brazils. The one however, is a Kingdmn, the other a BcpuLlic ; and if 
any gentleman can assign any other better reason why a minister should be sent to 
one and not to the other of these powers, I shall be glad to hear it disclosed, for I 
have not been able myself to discover it. 

A gentleman yesterday told the House that the news from Buenos Ayres was un- 
favorable. Take it altogether, I believe it is not. But, I put but little trust in such 
accounts. In our revolution, incredulity of reports and newspaper stories, propogated 
by the enemy, was so stregthened by experience, that at last nothing was believed 
which was not attested by the signature of " Charles Thomson," I am somewhat 
similarly situated ; I cannot believe these reports— I wish to see " Charles Thom- 
on" before I give full credit to them. The vessel which has arrived at Baltimore 



APPENDIX. XXX. 

and, by the way, by its valuable cargo of specie, hides, and tallow, give evidence of 8 
a commerce worth pursuing — brought some rumor of a difference between Artigas 
and the athorities of Buenos Ayres. With respect to the Banda Oriental, which is 
said to be occupied by Artigas — it constitutes but a very subordinate part of the ter. 
ritoryof the United Provinces of La Plata; and it can be no more objection to re- 
cognizing the nation because that province is not included within its power, than it 
could have been to our recognition because several States held out against the adop- 
tion of the constitution. Before 1 attach any confidence to a letter not signed 
" Charles Thomson," I must know who the man is who writes it ; what are his sources 
of information, his character for veracity, &c.,and of all those particulars we are de- 
prived of the information in the case of the recent intelligence in the Baltimore pa- 
pers, as extracted from private letters. 

But we are charged, on the present occasion, with treading on sacred ground. Let 
me suppose, what I do not believe to be the case, that the President has expressed 
an opinion one way and we another. At so early a period of our government, be- 
cause a particular individual fills the presidential chair ; an individual whom I highly 
respect, more perhaps than some of those who would be considered his exclusive 
friends, is the odious doctrine to be preached here, that the chief magistrate can do 
no wrong? Is the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistnnce — are the princi- 
ples of the Stewarts to be revived in this free government ? Is an opinion to be sup- 
pressed and scouted because it is in opposition to the opinion of the President ? Sir, 
as long as I have a seat on this floor, I shall not hesitate to exert the independence 
which belongs to the representative character — I shall not hesitate to express my 
opinions, coincident or not with those of the executive. But I can show that this 
cry has been raised on the present occasion without reason. Suppose a case : that 
the President had sent a minister to Buenos Ayres, and this House had been called 
on to make an appropriation for the payment of his salary. I ask of gentlemen 
■whether in that case they would not have voted an appropriation ? And has not the 
House a right to deliberate on the propriety of doing so, as well before as after a 
minister is sent ? Will gentlemen please to point out the difference ? I contend that 
ive are the true friends of the executive ; and that the title does not belong to those 
who have taken it. We wish to extend his influence, and give him patronage ; to 
give him means, as he has now the power, to send another minister abroad." But, 
apart from this view of the question, as regards the executive power, this House has 
the incontestable right to recognize a foreign nation in the exercise of its power to 
regulate commerce with foreign nations. Suppose, for example, we pass an act to 
regulate trade between the United States and Buenos Ayres, the existence of the 
nation would be thereby recognized-as we could not regulate trade with a nation 
which does not exist. 

The gentleman from Maryland, (Mr. Smith,) and the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Smyth) the great champions of executive power, and the opponent of legislative 
authority, have contended that recognition would be cause of war. These "entlemen 
are reduced to this dilemma. If it is cause of war, the executive ought not to have 
the r.ght to produce a war upon the country without consulting Congress If it is no 
cause of war, it is an act which there is no danger in performing. There is very little 
difference in principle between vesting the executive with the power of declaring 
war or with the power of necessarily leading the country into war. without consult! 
mg the authority to whom the power of making war is confided. But I deny 'hat it 
» cause of war , but if it is, the sense of Congress ought certainly ,„ some way o 






XXVI. APPENDIX. 

other to be taken on it, before that step is taken. I know that some of the most dis. 
tinguished statesmen in the country have taken the view of this subject, that the 
power to recognize the independence of any nation does not belong to the President; 
that it is a power too momentous and consequential in its character to belong to the 
executive. My own opinion, I confess, is different, believing the power to belong to 
either the President or Congress, and that it may, as most convenient, be exercised by 
either. If aid is to be given, to afford which will be cause of war, however, Con- 
gress alone can give it. 

This House then has the power to act on the subject, even thougn the Presideu* 
has expressed an opinion, which he hao not, further than, as appears by the report ol 
the Secretary of State, to decide that in January last, it would not be proper to re 
cognize them. But the President stands pledged to recognize the Republic, if on the 
return of the commissioners whom he has deputed, they shall make report favorable 
to the stability of the government. Suppose the chairman of the committee of for 
eign relations had reported a provision for an appropriation of that descnp'.ion which 
I propose, should we not all have voted for it? And can any gentleman oe so pliant 
as on the mere ground of an executive recommendation, to vote ah approp;iation. 
without exercising his own faculties on the question ; and yet, when tnere is no such 
suggestion, will not even so far act for himself as to determine whether a Republic, 
is so independent that we may fairly take the step of recognition of it? I hope that 
no such submission to the executive pleasure will characterize this House. 

One more remark, and I have done. One gentleman told the House that the 
population of the Spanish provinces is eighteen millions ; that we, with a popula- 
tion of two millions only, have conquered our independence— and that, if the 
Southern provinces willed it, they must be free. This population, I have already 
stated, consists of distinct nations, having but little, if any, intercourse, the largest 
of which is Mexico ; and they are so separated by immense distances, that it is im- 
possible there should be any cooperation between them. Besides, they have diffi- 
culties to encounter which we had not. They have a noblesse ; they are divided 
into jealous castes, and a vast proportion of Indians — to which adding the great in- 
fluence of the clergy, and it will be seen how widely different the circumstances of 
Spanish America are from those under which the revolution in this country was 
brought to a successful termination. I have already shown how deep-rooted is the 
spirit of liberty in that country. I have instanced the little island of Margarita, 
against which the whole force of Spain has been in vain directed ; containing a 
population of only sixteen thousand souls, but where every man, woman, and child 
is a Grecian soldier in defence of freedom. For many years the spirit of freedom 
has been struggling in Venezuela, and Spain has been unable to conquer it. Mo- 
rillo, in an official despatch, transmitted to the Minister of Marine of his own coun- 
try, avows that Angostura and all Guayana are in possession of the patriots, as well 
as all that country from which supplies can be drawn. According to the last ac- 
counts, Bolivar and other patriot commanders are concentrating their forces and 
are within one day's march of Morillo ; and if they do not forsake the Fabian 
policy, which is the true course for them, the result will be that even the weakest 
of the whole of the provinces of Spanish America, will establish their independence, 
and secure the enjoyment of those rights and blessings which rightfully belong 
to them. 

END OF VOLUME I. 



JUL 151949 



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